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Columbia lanibersitp 

STUDIES IN ENGLISH AND COMPARATIVE 

LITERATURE j S^ 

i t 
f / 



THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 
1785—1835 



COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS 
SALES AGENTS 

NEW TORK 

LEMCKE & BUECHNER 
30-32 East 20th Street 

LONDON 

HUMPHREY MILFORD 
Amen Corner, E.G. 

SHANGHAI 

EDWARD EVANS & SONS, Ltd. 
30 North Szechuen Road 



THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN 
AMERICA 

1785—1835 



BY 

JANE LOUISE MESICK 



Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Require- 
ments FOR THE Degree of Doctor of Phi- 
losophy in THE Faculty of 
Philosophy, Columbia 
University 



J^Eto gorfe 

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS 

1922 



fis% 



Copyright, 1922 
By Columbia University Press 



Printed from type. Published May, 1922. 



am 



TO THE MEMORY 

OF MY FATHER 

AND MY MOTHER 



PREFACE 

In undertaking this study of conditions in the United 
States in the fifty-year period after the Revolution, as 
seen through the eyes of English travellers, the author has 
attempted to produce a book which will be useful and inter- 
esting alike to the student of history and of literature. The 
English attitude toward America has been variously and 
frequently determined; such widely different works, for 
instance, as Henry T. Tuckerman's "America and Her 
Commentators" (1864) and John Graham Brooks* **As 
Others See Us" (1908) are well-known examples of this 
type of interpretative literature. But books of this kind, 
while affording much bibliographical material, usually at- 
tempt to cover the whole field of foreign criticism of Amer- 
ica and are necessarily superficial in their discussion of the 
various phases of American life. It is this difficulty that 
the present work attempts to obviate by the limitation of 
its subject. 

The bibliography of English travel in America, appended 
to this book, includes the works which were drawn upon 
by the authors. The original spelling, punctuation, and 
capitalization of the books of travel have been preserved 
in the titles and in the quotations throughout the book. 
While the titles were secured from many fruitful sources, 
the most useful work in this connection was the bibliography 
of Professor Lane Cooper's chapter ''Travellers and Ob- 
servers" in the Cambridge History of American Literature. 

Grateful thanks are due to Dr. Carl Van Doren, Literary 

vii 



Vlll PREFACE 

Editor of The Nation and Associate in English at Colum- 
bia University, who suggested this study and who read both 
the manuscript and the proof; to Professor William P. 
Trent of Columbia University, who read the proof; also to 
Professor Dixon Ryan Fox, Assistant Professor of History, 
Columbia University, whose careful criticism has been of 
great assistance. Acknowledgement must be made of the 
help given by the New York State Library at Albany, which 
generously lent its large collection of travel literature. The 
author is indebted, too, to her sisters, Maude M. Benson and 
Katharine M. Bennett, and to her friends, Mary Loomis 
Cook and Dr. Ruth Lansing, for practical aid in the inevit- 
able drudgery which a book of this kind involves. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER I 

PAGS 

Motives and Geography 1 

CHAPTER II 
The Emigrant and the Tra\^ller 26 

CHAPTER III 
Manners and Customs 64 

CHAPTER IV 
The Care of the Unfortunate 108 

CHAPTER V 
Slavery 122 

CHAPTER VI 
Agriculture, Manufacture, and Industry 149 

CHAPTER VII 

Trade and Finance 181 

CHAPTER VIII 
Education and Literature 203 

CHAPTER IX 
Religion 246 

CHAPTER X 
Famous Controversies 270 

CHAPTER XI 
Character 299 

CHAPTER XII 

The Future of the Union 321 

CHAPTER XIII 

Conclusion 336 

Bibliography 347 

Index 353 



THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER 
IN AMERICA 

1785-1835 



CHAPTER I 
MOTIVES AND GEOGRAPHY 

We of the twentieth century shall perhaps experience 
no modern equivalent of the attitude which prompted the 
European interest in America in the early days of the 
Republic. If we could, we should find the outlook ex- 
tremely interesting. Seldom shall we witness such a fas- 
cinating experiment in government in these sophisticated 
days when the world impresses us as having been con- 
quered and re-conquered many times. Here was a startling 
venture in statecraft. The new nation was made up of 
a heterogeneous collection of more or less truculent colonies, 
each of which had already manifested a tendency to de- 
velop according to its own geographic and economic needs. 
The unassimilated confederation was staggering under an 
enormous public debt, with no prospects of immediate 
resources. When we add to these difficulties the great 
extent of territory, the disparity in race and language of 
the people, the lack of sympathetic religious and political 
relations, and the local jealousies, and survey the accumu- 
lated burden, we do not wonder that the question foremost 
in the mind of the American as well as of the European 

1 



2 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

^as, — what is to be the result of all this? or, how long will 
this union last? Some of the most interesting chapters of 
travel literature at the time deal with this question of the 
future of the United States. 

Many optimistic European visitors saw in the young 
nation the nucleus of a future world power — a power 
which was destined to engage in a death grapple with Eng- 
land for the supremacy of the seas; others, judging by 
what they actually saw, foretold a speedy shipwreck on the 
rock of the slavery question, or of equal suffrage, or of 
the inability to populate such a vast tract of land. It 
was inevitable that, owing to the practical difficulties which 
prevented an easy communication between Europe and 
America, ignorance of the real state of affairs should pre- 
vail, and that preconceived ideas should govern the attitude 
of many a professedly truthful traveller. When we re- 
member that even within the memory of our own genera- 
tion the European mind has pictured the Indian stalking 
in blanket and war-paint through the streets of our large 
cities, we are likely to look with tolerant eye on the over- 
drawn and often prejudiced accounts of American life of 
more than a century ago. Significant, perhaps, of the 
knowledge of America which prevailed in England im- 
mediately after the Revolution is a statement in the preface 
of a curious little book published in 1789 — ''Historical 
Review of North America — by a gentleman immediately 
returned from a tour of that continent" (W. Matthews). 
*'It is a country hitherto little known. The perfidious 
French while they retained any power in North America, 
took every method to keep the English in ignorance, even 
by publishing false maps with false names and false ac- 
counts annexed to them; probably (says Carver) the great- 
est part is entirely unexplored. ' ' ^ 

1 Matthews, W., Preface, p. xiv. 



MOTIVES AND GEOGRAPHY 6 

At any rate, with whatever eyes the European tourists 
surveyed America, survey it they did, and the bibliography 
of travel literature reveals an ever-increasing list of visitors 
to these shores, beginning directly after the Revolution, 
decreasing perceptibly during the war of 1812, and receiv- 
ing a new stimulation after the independence of America 
was fully established by the peace of 1814. As it became 
more and more evident that the United States was becom- 
ing a power with which to reckon, European eyes were 
turned westward more curiously than ever. Correspond- 
ingly, books of travel multiplied and the list of works for 
the facilitation or the discouragement of emigration grew 
apace. Guide books for the new land were a natural 
consequence. Travellers vitally interested in some par- 
ticular form of occupation, — agriculture, trade, etc., could 
not resist the temptation to tell of the new and promising 
field for such ventures. 

The most obvious motive which led the British to seek 
America was relief from the state of affairs in Europe and 
especially in their own land. This cause operated less 
immediately after the Revolution than after the second 
war with Great Britain. In 1798, however, we find Isaac 
Weld writing in the preface to ''Travels through the 
States of North America and the Provinces of Upper and 
Lower Canada": ''At a period when war was spreading 
desolation over the fairest parts of Europe, when anarchy 
seemed to be extending its frightful progress from nation 
to nation, and when the storms that were gathering over 
his native country in particular rendered it impossible to 
say how soon any one of its inhabitants might be forced to 
seek for refuge in a foreign land, the Author of the follow- 
ing pages was induced to cross the Atlantic, for the purpose 
of examining with his own eyes into the truth of the vari- 
ous accounts which had been given of the flourishing and 



4 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

happy condition of the United States of America, and of 
ascertaining whether in case of further emergency, any 
part of those territories might be looked forward to as an 
eligible and agreeable place of abode. ' ' ^ 

The wars which were ''spreading desolation over the 
fairest parts of Europe" had after-effects which the British 
Empire was to feel more deeply than it did the conflict 
itself. Not only was England left with a war debt of over 
eight hundred and thirty million pounds, but she was 
forced to face and to solve many domestic problems which 
had been held in abeyance during the Napoleonic struggles. 
Her ministry was inharmonious and weak ; her export trade 
was at a low ebb. The introduction of machinery and the 
establishment of the factory system were throwing thou- 
sands out of employment. The Corn Law of 1815 was a 
rankling grievance; the poor took to rioting and rickburn- 
ing, and although sporadic attempts at rebellion were 
checked, discontent was general. This condition of affairs 
accounts for the vast number of British emigrants who 
yearly sought American shores. In 1817, Henry Bradshaw 
Fearon was deputed by thirty-nine English families to go 
to America '*to ascertain whether any, and what part of 
the United States would be suitable for their residence.'* 
In the ''Introductory Remarks" to his "Sketches of 
America" he makes a significant statement in regard to the 
condition of affairs in England. "Emigration had at the 
time of my appointment assumed a totally new character : 
it was no longer merely the poor, the idle, the profligate, or 
the wildly speculative who were proposing to quit their 
native country, but men of sober habits and regular pur- 
suits; men of reflection who apprehended approaching 
evils; men of upright and conscientious minds to whose 
happiness civil and religious liberty were essential; and 
2 Weld, Isaac I., Preface, pp. iii-iv. 



MOTIVES AND GEOGRAPHY 5 

men of domestic feelings who wished to provide for the 
future and prosperity of their offspring. ' ' ^ 

In 1830, Joseph Pickering published a book called "In- 
quiries of an Emigrant, being a narrative of an English 
farmer from the year 1824-30," in which he devotes his 
introduction to the discussion of the causes of emigration. 
*'The first and by far the most prominent one," he says, 
''is privation and its consequent distress. The next, per- 
haps, is dissatisfaction under real or fancied political 
grievances; some few emigrate for a warmer, drier or 
healthier climate and others for no reason but a love of 
change." 

The best known examples of those who sought a new 
home for themselves, and who encouraged imitation of 
their own example were Morris Birkbeck and George 
Flower. Birkbeck was a Quaker farmer who decided on 
account of troubles in England to emigrate to America. 
He inspired with enthusiasm his friend George Flower, 
who went before Birkbeck to investigate conditions. Birk- 
beck met Flower in 1817 in Virginia and together they 
made their way to the Ohio, and thence to the region of 
the Illinois. Here they assumed responsibility for a huge 
tract of land, 16,000 acres stretching northward from the 
Ohio. Farms were laid out, cabins built, and emigration 
encouraged to a district which, by its proximity to the 
Mississippi River, offered infinite possibilities for the trans- 
portation of produce to the markets of the world. Two 
optimistic books issued by Birkbeck in 1817 and 1818, 
"Notes on a Journey in America from the Coast of Vir- 
ginia to the Territory of the Illinois" and "Letters from 
Illinois" stimulated great enthusiasm among the discon- 
tented in England, and the "English Prairie," as it was 
called, was the scene of active colonization. It was also 
8 Fearon, Introductory Remarks, pp. xi-xii. 



6 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

destined to become later the point of dispute in a literary 
war. It is quite natural that many of Birkbeck's emi- 
grants should have been disappointed in their expecta- 
tions, and equally natural that they should in that case 
have tried to prevent other people from following their 
unfortunate example; on the other hand many considered 
the venture a successful experiment and were loud in their 
praises of it. William Blane, after travelling through 
Birkbeck's settlement in 1822, says, "While in Albion I 
read all the books and reviews that had been written both 
for and against this settlement. One traveller described it 
as an earthly paradise, another as a miserable, unhealthv 
swamp ; the truth is midway between these extremes. ' ' * 

Many travellers whose interest was not primarily philan- 
thropic and who cared nothing for the cause of emigratic 
in the abstract, nevertheless looked upon it in the light - 
their personal needs. Such a one was Thomas Cooper 
who, as early as 1794, came ' ' to determine whether America 
and what part of it was eligible for a person like myself 
with a small fortune and a large family to settle in — and 
having completely satisfied my own mind upon the sub- 
ject, I left part of my family there and have returned 
(probably for the last time) to fetch away the rest."** 

One of the most amusing accounts of those who sought 
a personal refuge from England's evils is that of the Eev. 
Isaac Fidler who, dissatisfied with ecclesiastical conditions 
at home, crossed the ocean confidently expecting to find 
an Episcopal benefice waiting for him on this side. He 
found not only that two years' residence was required for 
an alien to hold such a benefice, but that his secondary 

* Blane, William, "An Excursion Through the United States and 
Canada During the Years 1822-1823," p. 157. 

5 "Some Information Respecting America, Collected by Thomas 
Cooper, Late of Manchester," Preface, p. iii. 



MOTIVES AND GEOGRAPHY 7 

scheme of disseminating knowledge of Sanscrit and other 
ancient tongues was not more practicable. His disgust 
knew no bounds, and the resulting diatribe against Ameri- 
can stupidity constitutes an interesting though unreliable 
source of information concerning the condition of religious 
affairs in America.^ 

A limited number of travellers came to investigate cer- 
tain specialized fields of activity such as trade or commerce 
or manufacture. One of the most important and authori- 
tative of these visitors was John Melish, who in 1806 tried 
to open a line of cotton trade with Savannah, Georgia. At 
the accession of Charles James Fox as the head of the 

inistry in 1805, Melish deemed the time ripe for friendly 
commercial relations between England and America, and 
|:^barked on his new enterprise. Later, in 1812, he writes, 
u /laving occasion to travel extensively through the interior 
of Georgia, I extended my remarks, and found an opinion 
forced upon me, that should the restrictions of commerce 
be of long duration, America would become a manufactur- 
ing country and consequently would be in a great measure 
independent of Europe. That opinion received strength 
and confirmation during a residence in New York in 1810, 
when I was fruitlessly employed in looking for mercantile 
employment." ^ 

With the knowledge gained in a month 's leave of absence 
from his ship in Halifax, Lieutenant the Honorable F. 
Fitzgerald de Roos of the Royal Navy ventured to publish 
in 1827 a *' Personal Narrative of Travels in the United 
States and Canada." His purpose was to inspect the 

6 "Observations on Professions, Literature, Manners, and Emigra- 
tion in the United States and Canada." By the Rev. Isaac Fidler 
(1833). 

7 "Travels in the United States of America in the Years 1806 and 
1807, and 1809, 1810 and 1811." By John Melish, I, Preface, p. viii. 



8 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

dockyards with a view to establishing certain facts in 
regard to the American navy, facts which he makes clear — 
namely, that the reports of the naval powers of the United 
States have been greatly exaggerated, that the new coun- 
try will never ''cope with Great Britain in maritime war- 
fare — far less dispute with her the Dominion of the 
Seas."« 

A much more charming personality, a man blessed with 
a singular openness of mind, was John Bernard, a popular 
English comedian who became one of the first American 
stage managers. Driven from England in 1797 *'by the 
failure of two or three managerial speculations and the 
patronage of an extensive circle of fashionable acquain- 
tances," he sought a new field for the propagation of his 
beloved art. "On reaching Boston," he says, ''I met many 
London acquaintances at the theatre there who varied in 
the reception they gave me. One said I had come too late 
by five years; another that I was a great fool to come at 
all ; a third, that as I looked a florid habit, there was every 
chance of my being packed in a black box before the 
spring. The better tempered cheered me in the way an 
army agent does a cadet in war time. 'The yellow fever,' 
said they, 'thins the Green Room of at least twenty every 
summer, so that in a short time the field will be your 
own.' "^ 

Although it is true, as we have seen, that many of 
America's visitors came to her with a definite purpose in 
mind, by far the largest class was made up of those who 
were actuated by the same motives that impel many of us 
today to visit foreign countries — they sought pleasure and 

8 See De Roos, pp. 218-219; Boardman (Preface, p. v) also came 
for commercial reasons. 

9 "Retrospections of America, 1797-1811." By John Bernard (edi- 
tion of 1887), p. 23, also pp. 25-26. 



MOTIVES AND GEOGRAPHY 9 

the gratification of their curiosity. How great that curi- 
osity was is difficult to comprehend. Aside from the inter- 
esting political experiment that America represented, there 
was also the novelty of strange manners and customs, the 
mystery of the fast dying-out race of Indians, the lure of 
unexplored depths of forest and prairie. Curiosity drew 
to America some of the most interesting of her commenta- 
tors and some of the most bigoted of her detractors. Actu- 
ated, at least in the case of many, by no serious purpose, 
they let their imaginations run riot, and the result was 
often a tale worthy of the Arabian Nights. 

One of the most delightful embodiments of the spirit of 
adventure came to America in 1798 in the person of John 
Davis. Professedly literary in his inclinations, he wan- 
dered from New York to South Carolina, acting as tutor 
to earn his living. In his pedestrian travels he covered 
fifteen states, jotting down in his journal interesting 
though sometimes unreliable information about the people 
with whom he was associated, and particularly, many facts 
concerning the literary conditions of the time. The viva- 
city of his descriptions, the spirit of the writer, and his 
racy mixture of fact and fiction make the book a land- 
mark on the oftentimes monotonous road of travel liter- 
ature. ^° 

In 1856, there appeared the posthumous journal of Fran- 
cis Baily, at one time president of the Royal Astronomical 
Society. Baily had as a young man of twenty-two un- 
dertaken a tour of two years' duration (1796-7) through 
the unsettled parts of North America. Impelled by the 
spirit of adventure, he intended to make this journey serve 
as an apprenticeship to later travels, preferably in Africa, 
in the exploration of which he hoped to equal Mungo Park. 

10 "Travels of Four Years and a Half in the United States of 
America, During 1798, 1799, 1800, 1801, and 1802." By Jonn Davis. 



10 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

Taking time to satisfy his curiosity, he drifted leisurely 
through most of the explored regions of the Middle West 
and through vast tracts of virgin forests as well. His 
experiences are always interesting, some of them intensely 
so, as for instance, when he passed from Pittsburg to New 
Orleans in an open boat occupying in transit about fifty 
days and nights ''not reckoning landings." ^^ 

There are, in the history of travel in America, three or 
four especially notorious names — notorious in the sense 
that they represent authors whose accounts of American 
life were either so scathing as to provoke indignation and 
frequent reprisals on the part of the natives, or so im- 
aginative that no value could be attached to some of their 
statements. In this latter class is the name of Thomas 
Ashe who, driven by curiosity which took the form of an 
interest in archaeology, made a journey in 1806 in the 
region of the rivers Allegheny, Monongahela, Ohio, and 
Mississippi. As we thrill with anticipation while he is 
uncovering an Indian mound, or while we take with him 
the chute of the falls of the Ohio, we forget that he was 
everywhere advertised as an impostor, and that such mar- 
vellous descriptions, as that of the falls of the Ohio in a 
thunder storm, had little, if any, foundation of fact.^^ 

If we consult a table of dates of travel in this country, 
we find, as has been said before, that there is a decided 
gap in the records of the years during which occurred the 
second war with Great Britain. As relations with the 
latter country became strained, travel decreased ; especially 
is this true of the type now under discussion, that is, that 
undertaken from motives of curiosity. In the six years 

11 See Baily, Francis, Preface, p. viii. 

12 See, for instance, Ashe, Thomas, "Travels in America Performed 
in 1806, . . ." pp. 238-239. 



MOTIVES AND GEOGRAPHY 11 

from 1810-1816, there were few Englislimen who evinced 
enough temerity to travel in the United States for pleasure. 
About 1816 or 1817, we see the beginning of the great 
western movement which was destined to receive its first 
real check in the circumstances of the World War. 
The impetus was manifold; the removal of the embargo 
of 1807, the growing appreciation of the possibilities of 
the New West, and the increased facilities in the shape of 
canals and highways, led Europeans to turn to America, 
and drove forth the settlers already there to seek fresh 
fields along the Ohio and in the Mississippi valley. 

The uncertainty in the minds of Europeans concerning 
the real state of affairs in the United States called forth 
such works as Bristed's ** Resources of America" (1818). 
In it, the author discusses the various opinions of trav- 
ellers of all nations, their conflicting accounts, and the true 
state of affairs in various lines of activity, such as com- 
merce, manufacture, government, literature, etc. Again 
and again were lovers of America forced to refute in print 
what was published in London and Edinburgh, and if it 
was true, as even Captain Basil Hall admitted, that the 
Americans were uniformly forbearing in their attitude 
toward the discontented and fault-finding wayfarer, their 
patience often came to a sudden end when they were able 
to set down their grievances on paper. 

Lieutenant Francis Hall's book of travels in 1816 is one 
of the first signs of re-awakened interest in American af- 
fairs. After an extended tour through Canada, he entered 
the United States on the Niagara frontier, from which he 
penetrated through New York and Pennsylvania down as 
far as Charleston. His work is distinctive because of its 
organization. It is no hastily scrawled journal, as are so 
many of the accounts, but adds to the separate chapters 
for the different localities appendixes in which such sub- 



12 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

jects as slavery and traits of American character are dis- 
cussed fully and dispassionately.^^ 

The next writer of any note, who enjoys too the added 
distinction of being the first Englishwoman who wrote 
down her impressions of America, was Madame Frances 
Wright D'Arusmont, or Fanny Wright, as she was more 
familiarly known. She visited America in 1818 and again 
five years later, when she became interested in the slavery 
question and founded a colony of free negroes near 
Memphis. Her book, ''Views of Society and Manners in 
America," a highly laudatory account of travels through 
the East and South, appeared in London in 1821. 

It was in the second and third decades of the century 
that pleasure-seekers began to visit America in noticeably 
large numbers, and at that time too, began in earnest the 
literary war between those who wrote scoffingly of Amer- 
ica and those who defended her. William Blane, who 
wrote a sympathetic account, came in 1822. Isaac Candler 
in 1824 published a ''Summary View of America" in 
which he set forth concisely and clearly his observations 
during a trip through the New England, Middle Atlantic, 
and Southern states. His book met with praise from both 
English and American reviewers. Captain Basil Hall, a 
visitor in 1827-8, was the arch-traitor to American hospi- 
tality in the opinion of those who had tried to endure his 
fault-finding during his leisurely journey with his family 
over most of the known territory of the United States. 
Around his book, "Travels in North America in the years 
1827 and 1828," there sprang up a young growth of litera- 
ture that repeated or attacked his views. 

After 1830, the travel literature increased as rapidly as 
did the number of the curious. This is the decade of Mrs. 

13 "Travels in Canada and the United States in 1816 and 1817." 
By Lieut. Francis Hall. 



MOTIVES AND GEOGRAPHY 13 

Trollop e, who journeyed to the banks of the Illinois os- 
tensibly from motives of the ordinary sight-seer, in reality 
for the benefit of a private business venture. Her book 
''Domestic Manners of the Americans" was estimated by 
her son Anthony Trollope to be "the first of a series of 
books of travel of which it was probably the best and cer- 
tainly the best known." ^* In this period too, belongs 
Henry Tudor, an English barrister, who came to see the 
only quarter of the globe he had never visited and espe- 
cially to behold ''the magnificent cataract of Niagara." ^^ 
Appreciative accounts of American life were written by 
Tyrone Power the actor^^ (1836), and by Harriet Mar- 
tineau, the latter of whom was welcomed everywhere as a 
celebrity. ^^ Godfrey Vigne, an English barrister, in 1832 
came "alone, unbewifed and unbevehicled, as a man ought 
to travel, and with the determination of being, as far as 
an Englishman can be, unprejudiced." His intention was 
to see all he could of the United States in the space of 
about six months, and after reading his succinct, straight- 
forward, almost curt account, one does not wonder that 
he covered as much ground as he did in the comparatively 
short space of time.^^ 

It is impossible to individualize all the books of this 
class, especially those that were written in the twenties 
and thirties. Yet one hesitates to omit at least a bare 
mention of the books by such men as Charles Augustus 

14 See Trollope, Anthony, "Autobiography," Chap. II, for discussion I'' 
of her work. 

15 Tudor, Henry, "Narration of a Tour in North America, in a 
Series of Letters Written in the Years 1831-2." (1834.) 

16 Power, Tyrone, "Impressions of America Ihiring the"Tears 1833, 
1834, and 1835." (1836.) 

iTMartineau, Harriet, "Society in America." (1837.) 
18 Vigne, Godfrey, "Six Months in America." (1832.) 



14 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

Murray, S. A. Ferrall, and Thomas Hamilton. Murray's 
interest led him to spend a summer with the Pawnee In- 
dians in the remote Missouri Territory ;^^ Ferrall 's long 
*' ramble" of 6,000 miles was undertaken through the sheer 
love of novelty,^^ while Hamilton as an ''independent ob- 
server" seems to have found in American institutions and 
experience only a dangerous precedent for possible imita- 
tion by England.^^ 

When we turn to the consideration of the motives which 
prompted these travellers to put down on paper what they 
saw and how it impressed them, we find that few were 
thinking of the writing of the book as a literary exercise. 
Many of them were careful to disclaim any pretense to 
literary ability, and there are indeed, very few whose ex- 
cellence of style is so marked that it distracts our atten- 
tion from the facts and the writer's point of view. It is 
amusing to see how many of the authors have ''yielded to 
the solicitations of friends," having kept their journal of 
travels with no thought of publishing it. So numerous 
are these modest writers that one is in a humor to appre- 
ciate a statement like the following with which Charles 
Augustus Murray prefaced his book: "It is very seldom 
that the journal of a traveller appears before the public 
unaccompanied by a prefatory declaration that it was not 
his original intention to publish, and that he had been 
reluctantly induced by the importunities of his friends to 
inform the world of the extent and particulars of his travel. 
A statement of this kind meets with as much credit as the 
laboured impromptu of a wit: or the professions of dif- 

19 Murray, The Hon. Charles Augustus, "Travels in North America 
During the Years 1834, 1835, and 1836." (1839.) 

20 Ferrall, S. A., "A Ramble of 6,000 Miles through the United 
States of America." (1832.) 

21 Hamilton, Thomas, "Men and Manners in America." (1834.) 



MOTIVES AND GEOGRAPHY 15 

fidence made by a practised speaker: as it is a matter in 
which the public are so little interested, I am surprised 
that authors should take so much pains in attempting to 
explain it. Most travellers keep a record of the scenes 
through which they pass without having at the time defi- 
nite intentions as to publication, leaving their after-de- 
cisions to be determined by circumstances ; this is generally 
the case with persons who travel without any scientific 
object and is probably applicable to the following nar- 
rative." ^^ 

Many Englishmen, having travelled more or less exten- 
sively with professedly unbiased judgment, felt that it was 
their duty to enlighten their fellow countrymen on the 
subject of the evils of emigration. An enthusiastic detrac- 
tor of this type was Thomas Brothers, who signed himself 
a resident in the United States for fifteen years and who 
gave his book the beguiling title of ''The United States 
as They Are, not as They Are Generally Described : Being 
a Cure for Radicalism." The American system of gov- 
ernment was his point of attack. Others exposed the 
faults of American society and domestic manners, as Mrs. 
TroUope and William Faux,^^ the latter of whom was des- 
ignated by Blackwood's reviewer as ''a simpleton of the 
first water,. . . .a capital specimen of a village John Bull, 
for the first time roaming far away from his native valley 
— staring at everything and grumbling at most. ' ' ^* 

The influence of these men was offset by that of a group 
of writers who looked at the United States through rosy 
spectacles and who encouraged emigration thither. Many 

22 Murray, C. A., Preface, p. v. 

23 Faux, William, "Memorable Days in America." (Thwaites, XI, 
XII.) 

24 See Blackwood's Magazine, XIV, 562, 565. (Novembe?, 1823.) 



16 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

of these had a favorite place of residence, the superior 
advantages of which they enthusiastically set forth. 

Many writers had no other aim than to produce an ac- 
count of the unusual things that they had witnessed. 
Inveterate observers and travellers like Isaac Candler or 
Francis Baily took notes on ''those things which attracted 
attention either by their novelty or importance," notes 
which were published later for their intrinsic value. Some 
made a special appeal to young people, with the hope of 
administering the wholesome pill of useful information 
disguised by the jelly of amusing or exciting adventures.^' 
To many of the English travellers, publication was evidently 
a safety valve, the result of a natural desire to narrate 
their personal adventures or to publish their diaries or part 
of their correspondence. Especially is this true in the case 
of many of the women writers on America, Fanny Wright, 
Frances Kemble, and Harriet Martineau; it is also true 
of two of the most famous actors who visited America, 
John Bernard and Tyrone Power. 

By far the greatest number of travellers wrote to an- 
swer questions or to set forth the real state of affairs in 
America. Their name is legion; each purports to be tell- 
ing the absolute truth about what he has seen and heard, 
to be swayed by no prejudices, and to be desirous only of 
improving upon the accounts that have antedated his work. 
Some are favorable to America, some quite otherwise; in 
some cases the expressed determination to tell the truth 
has a grim and sinister ring ; in others, the account is pre- 
faced by a relation of the shocking impositions regarding 
America already practised on unsuspecting Englishmen. 

25 See Wakefield, Priscilla, "Excursions in North America. De- 
scribed in Letters from a Gentleman and His Young Companion, 
to Their Friends in England." (1806.) Also, a compilation by 
William Bingley, "Travels in North America." (1821.) 



MOTIVES AND GEOGRAPHY 17 

That the majority of these writers were sincere, one can- 
not doubt after reading their books, but the natural dis- 
position of the traveller often played an all too important 
part in determining his attitude. Though the length of 
the sojourn in America might vary from one month to 
four or five years, not even the most casual observer 
doubted his ability to pass judgment on what he had seen. 

The difficulty of dealing with this class of material is \ 
that it is almost impossible to reconcile the different views, ^ 
to lend credence to a Blane and to a Fearon at the same 
time, for instance, when each insists that he is telling the 
truth. When we turn to native books on the same subject, 
in an endeavor to justify some of these statements, we are 
still at a loss because of the prejudiced views of the sen- 
sitive American authors of the time. We hesitate to judge 
by instances of agreement of opinion on individual sub- 
jects discussed by several authors, but we are often obliged 
to take refuge in this unsatisfactory method of solving the 
problem. 

Let us suppose that our traveller has braved the dangers 
of a sea voyage of several weeks' duration, and has ar- 
rived in America with rather well-defined ideas as to what 
parts of this land he is to visit. He has, of course, taken 
this voyage in a sailing vessel and has to a great extent 
provided for himself en route, carrying with him enough 
"necessities" to dismay the soul of the modern traveller. 
He may have in mind as an objective a limited area of 
land where he hopes to find a home, or he may contem- 
plate a journey over tracts of thousands of miles, so great 
is the variation in the extent of land covered by different 
travellers. 

Usually the stranger landed in New York or at Boston,! 
after passing the Newfoundland banks. A few had their' 
first sight of the new world from the harbor of Savannah, 



18 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

of Newport News, or of New Orleans, but nearly aU chose 
the more conventional route, unless influenced by some con- 
sideration of trade or convenience. From New York or 
Boston, the main-travelled roads led of course westward 
and southward. The traveller by water resorted to the 
sloop or steamboat; the journey by land was perforce ac- 
complished by stages or carriages or on horseback, as before 
1830, when the South Carolina railway was built to be run 
by locomotive, there were only spasmodic attempts at rail- 
roads equipped with wooden rails and operated by horses. 
When the Englishman landed in New York, he had the 
choice of two alternatives: he might go up the Hudson by 
sloop or by stage coach, or he could take a boat to New 
Brunswick en route to Philadelphia on his way to the 
south and west. If he went north he usually followed a 
beaten track, first to Albany, then across the state to Buf- 
falo by stage or by canal boat. At the close of the Revolu- 
tion, the western interior of New York State was practically 
a wilderness. While there was water communication be- 
tween Lake Ontario and the Hudson by means of the Mo- 
hawk River, the only road in the state leading westward 
was the one which had been made by the Indians — the 
so-called Iroquois Trail. The famous Genesee Road which 
still survives in the Genesee Street of several cities in the 
central part of the state, was built westward from Fort 
Schuyler, or Utica, in 1794 and was extended to Buffalo 
in 1798. The usefulness of this road, which at its best was 
very poor, was much diminished by the building of the 
Erie Canal, begun in 1816 under the direction of DeWitt 
Clinton. On October 26, 1825, the first boat, ''The Sene- 
can Chief," passed from Buffalo to New York by water. So 
cheaply was freight carried, and so popular was canal 
travel that by 1836, the waterway had turned into the state 
treasury more than its cost. Its contribution to the pros- 



MOTIVES AND GEOGRAPHY 19 

perity of New York cannot be estimated.^^ It was in- 
evitably destined later to be superseded by the railroad, 
but during the period under discussion, the canal and the 
Genesee Road were the two beaten paths to western New 
York. 

A visit was, of course, always made to Niagara Falls. 
This most popular landmark in American scenery impressed 
the English traveller of the early nineteenth century much 
as it impresses us today. Some reacted to the sight posi- 
tively and enthusiastically, often prolonging their stay to 
view the cataract under varying conditions, others were 
manifestly disappointed and did not pause to look the 
second time.^^ 

If the traveller wished to turn back at this point, he 
could proceed eastward along the southern shore of Lake 
Ontario and thus to the waterways of central New York; 
if, on the other hand, a visit to Canada were contemplated 
he now crossed the border near Niagara. Approximately 
one-half of the English travellers included Canada in their 
itinerary. Some of these had a desire to visit the com- 
paratively new and flourishing colonies; others seriously 
weighed the relative advantages of these provinces and the 
States, as a place of abode. The visit completed, our Eng- 
lishman usually proceeded down the St. Lawrence, over 
land to Lake Champlain, then to Lake George, and thence 
back to the Hudson, sometimes stopping at Saratoga 
Springs, which was for many years the fashionable sum- 

26 See Shirreflf, "A Tour Through North America" (p. 307), for 
a good account of the Erie Canal. 

27 For some descriptions of Niagara Falls, see the following: 
Harris, p. 165; Fowler, p. 138 ff.; Mrs. Trollope, II, 257-260; Power 
I, 391 ff.; Hall, F., pp. 141-147; D'Arusmont, pp. 173-180; Board- 
man, p. 136 ff.; Hall, B., I, 177-213; Coke, II, 28-35; Hodgson, I, 
342-346; Alexander, II, 143-146; Blane, pp. 396-406; Weston, pp. 
259-260. 



20 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

mer place for the wealthy, not only in its vicinity but in 
the South as well. The Southern planter is often reported 
to have lived with strict frugality during the winter 
months, that his family might make the greater impression 
during their summer stay at Saratoga or Ballston Spa.^^ 

From Saratoga or from Albany the wayfarer, if he were 
so inclined, could visit Boston, travelling by stage or by 
privately hired carriage. Sometimes he took short side 
trips into the White Mountains.-^ His route from Boston 
usually took him south through Providence, New London, 
and New Haven, finally bringing him back to New York. 

Only those who were limited in time or who perhaps in- 
tended to spend some time in Canada, contented them- 
selves with this short journey. If curiosity did not carry 
one as far as the Mississippi, at least it often took one to 
Philadelphia, and especially to Washington. To visit these 
cities, one usually embarked at New York on the Philadel- 
phia boat which descended the bay, turning westward into 
the strait that separates Staten Island and New Jersey, 
then into the Raritan River, and so to New Brunswick, 
where stages were taken to Philadelphia via Trenton. ^° 
Failing this, one might take the boat from New York to 
Perth Amboy on the Jersey coast, from which there was 
a stage line running to Philadelphia. Baltimore was 
reached by what Melish in 1812 called *^land and water 
stages. ' ' ^^ Later it was possible to go entirely by water. 
Thirty-eight miles from Baltimore lay Washington, the 
focus of several coach lines. No sight-seeing tour was com- 
plete without a visit to Washington's tomb, in which the 

28 For Saratoga, see Hall, B., II, 24-25; Power, I, 422-424; Tudor, 
I, 188-194; Murray, I, 62; ShirreflF, pp. 57-58. 

29 See, for instance, Tudor, I, 412 fiF.; Coke, II, 145-153. 
soBlane, p. 14. 

81 Melish, I, 177. 



MOTIVES AND GEOGRAPHY 21 

stranger, by the way, was invariably disappointed.^^ From 
Washington, the beaten track led south, through Richmond 
to Charleston. Often the traveller turned aside to visit the 
Natural Bridge. In a few instances, as in the case of 
Lambert in 1806, the journey was made by water from 
New York to Charleston, but the favorite route was over- 
land by stage. Apparently he who penetrated as far south 
as Charleston more often than not projected a journey 
across Georgia toward the Mississippi. In that case, he 
went to Savannah, usually by boat. We are given an ac- 
count of such a voyage by James Stuart in 1833. **The 
voyage to Savannah may be said to be entirely inland, the 
course for a considerable space passing through no less 
than sixteen rivers, some of them not much wider than the 
boat itself . . . and in other places being at sea behind no 
less than thirteen islands. Several of the cuts from river 
to river were made by the British during the Revolutionary 
War in order to facilitate the conveyance of military 
stores. " ^^ 

From Savannah, a stage and horseback route led across 
a comparatively unsettled country of swamps and pine 
forests to New Orleans. The last stage of this journey 
could be accomplished by boat from Montgomery, Alabama. 
Safely arrived at New Orleans, the wanderer entered upon 
an easier route to follow. The Mississippi opened to him 
areas of thousands of miles ; he might ascend as far as the 
mouth of the Ohio, or he might, like Miss Martineau, enter 
the mouth of the Cumberland River and explore the Ten- 
nessee and Kentucky region. Very few English travellers 

82 For remarks on Washington's tomb, see the following: Finch, 
p. 218; Tudor, I, 68; Hodgson, I, 14; Hall, F., p. 203; Murray, I, 
106; Coke, I, 100. See also tforth American Review, XIX, 120, for 
defence of the tomb. 

83 Stuart, II, 79. 



22 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

went beyond the western banks of the Mississippi. In 
1809-11, John Bradbury, in search of natural history speci- 
mens, followed the course of the Missouri for some distance 
and returned to St. Louis after a not very successful ex- 
pedition. Blane and Latrobe visited the prairies around 
St. Louis, but did not go far from the river. Generally 
exploration, as far as the English were concerned at least, 
confined itself to the east bank of the river. 

We have the record of only one English traveller who 
ventured to penetrate into the forest wilderness north and 
northeast from New Orleans. The scientist, Francis Baily 
(1796-7), having descended the Mississippi, intended to 
return by the same means, but as there was no boat for 
some time, he became impatient and set out on horseback 
through the wilderness. After great difficulty and many 
exciting experiences, he reached Knoxville and from there 
took his way over the Cumberland Mountains. 

From the mouth of the Ohio, the way stretched eastward 
to Pittsburg and the road across the AUeghanies. This 
was the route usually taken, though a few travellers went 
either by a more southern route from the Ohio to Virginia, 
or north to Lake Erie, and then to New York State. A 
stage ran from Sandusky on Lake Erie to Cincinnati, a 
distance of about 200 miles. The use of the Great 
Lakes belongs to a later time when steam naviga+^^n ^ /• 
more nearly perfected, though Harriet Martineau took the 
trip from Buffalo in 1837. Patrick Shirreff, in 1835, used 
the lakes to cross from Canada directly to Detroit on his 
way to Chicago which, though at that time it was a hamlet 
of only 150 wooden houses, was already the subject of 
brilliant prophecies for the future.^* 

A choice of several routes was offered to the traveller 
who wished to go west from Pennsylvania, Maryland, or 
34 Shirreff, p. 226. 



MOTIVES AND GEOGRAPHY 23 

Virginia. He could go through New York State to Buf- 
falo, then by steamboat on Lake Erie to Sandusky, and 
from there cut across by stage to the Ohio River. One of 
the favorite projects of this period was the building of a 
canal between Lake Erie and the Ohio; the realization of 
this dream, which later materialized, opened a complete 
watercourse between New York and New Orleans. The 
Ohio River was obviously the most important factor in 
travel routes to the west. All roads led to **la belle 
riviere," as the early French settlers called it. A. B. Hul- 
bert in ''Historic Highways" emphasizes the fact that the 
western movement was by river valleys; through the most 
important of these, the Ohio, there passed for half a cen- 
tury a great stream of travel that changed materially the 
future history of the country. 

Reaching to the Ohio from the east was an ever-increas- 
ing number of roads. Three or four represent the favorite 
routes and were most often taken by the traveller or 
emigrant to the West. All of them were originally Indian 
trails which had been widened by the passing of pack trains. 
The oldest of the thoroughfares was a trail called Brad- 
dock's Road. This was first opened by the Ohio Land 
Company and was utilized by Washington in 1755 on his 
way from the upper Potomac to Fort Duquesne, at the 
b^ilv? ;tiOiS>(^ov. Dinwiddie. This route was widened by the 
unfortunate Gen. Braddock, who marched over it to defeat. 

A more direct route, however, and one at the present 
time taken by the Pennsylvania Railroad, was the turn- 
pike called ''Forbes' Road," built in 1758 under the di- 
rection of General Forbes, whose experiences are worthy 
of being incorporated in a romance. This road became the 
great military highway to the West during the Revolu- 
tion. Afterward, it was improved and for thirty years 
was the main thorous^hfare across the mountains. Most 



24 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

of the travellers whose views we are to discuss took this 
road if they visited the West. 

This whole matter of western emigration was an espe- 
cially fertile field for the display of state jealousy in the 
early days of the republic. We have seen that Virginia 
and Pennsylvania both had, at the close of the Revolution, 
a well-defined road to the Ohio. Not to be outdone by 
them, Maryland in 1806-18 secured the building of a na- 
tional thoroughfare from Cumberland to Wheeling, West 
Virginia, on the Ohio. This was known as the Cumber- 
land Road and was supposed to be very fine. Many of the 
better known English travellers like Mrs. Trollope, Fearon, 
and Blane took this route. ^^ These three roads, with the 
addition of the old ''Boone's Trail," which after 1769 
marked a rather indistinct course from North Carolina to 
Kentucky, constituted the chief means of access to the West 
in the early days of emigration. As we approach the end 
of this period, we find that it is characterized by several 
new ventures in road-building as well as by an increased 
interest in artificial waterways, which, supplanting in many 
cases the older land-trail, were in turn superseded by the 
railroads. One of the most important of these waterways 
was the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal which was to be built 
between Washington and Cumberland. From its incep- 
tion it had a formidable rival in the Baltimore and Ohio 
Railroad, which ran from Baltimore to Cumberland and 
on to the Ohio. On the same day, July 4, 1828, ground 
was broken for each in Washington and in Baltimore re- 
spectively. The subsequent history of these two travel 
routes is one of failure for the canal, which could not com- 
pete with the more rapid railroad. 

It is quite probable that the completion of the Erie 
Canal and the prosperity which it brought to the New 
85 See Blane, p. 86; Fearon, p. 186; Mrs. Trollope, I, 271. 



MOTIVES AND GEOGRAPHY 25 

York region influenced the public-spirited of other states, f 
At any rate, there was begun in 1826 the Pennsylvania 
Canal, which was to cross the state from Philadelphia to 
the Allegheny River at a point a short distance above 
Pittsburg. Advantage was taken of the Susquehanna and 
Juniata Rivers, and for the use of locks there was substi- 
tuted an ingenious scheme in the shape of Alleghany 
Portage Railways on which boats were elevated or lowered 
by means of inclined planes.^® Tunnels were bored be- 
neath the peaks of the Alleghanies. This whole was com- 
pleted by 1835 and was in use, with modifications, until 
the completion of the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1854. 

These were some of the attempts to penetrate beyond the 
Alleghany ridge, which as James Hall said, ''presented a 
formidable barrier, and those who crossed it found them- 
selves in a new world where they must defend themselves 
or perish. It was the Rubicon of the adventurous pioneer.'' 

36 Murray, I, 135; Power, I, 291. 



CHAPTER II 

THE EMIGRANT AND THE TRAVELLER 

The emigrant and the traveller in America encountered 
of course much the same conditions and the same difficul- 
ties, but their individual experiences, owing to the differ- 
ence in their aim, were likely to be very dissimilar. Thus 
they lend themselves to a certain amount of separate treat- 
ment, though a great deal that is said of the emigrant 
applies equally well to the traveller, and vice versa. 

Let us imagine ourselves in the position of the middle- 
class Englishman who, dissatisfied with conditions at home, 
casts expectant eyes toward this El Dorado of which he 
has heard so much. He wishes to know the truth about 
America, and if he is a thoughtful man, he weighs the evi- 
dence set forth in the travel literature and the numerous 
books of advice to the prospective settler. 

Besides the generally unfavorable condition of affairs in 
Europe, there were several good substantial considerations 
that induced Englishmen to emigrate to the United States. 
The most obvious was perhaps the fact of the uncongested 
breadth of the land — a land that was practically unlimited 
in extent. It was seldom that anyone held such a view as 
did Ashe that ''from the vast extent of America, the in- 
dustry of man cannot for centuries effect a visible change 
in the general and primitive face that it bears. ' ' ^ The 
lack of population usually acted as an encouragement to 
emigration rather than as a deterrent. Here the man of 
small means might procure by easy payments to the gov- 
lAshe, p. 33. 

26 



THE EMIGRANT AND THE TRAVELLER 27 

ernment sufficient acreage for himself and his descendants 
for the moderate price of two dollars per acre. If he found 
himself surrounded by undesirable neighbors, he had the 
opportunity to sell out and secure another tract in a more 
favorable, and perhaps a more remote district. The mere 
extent of land free from overlordship or supervision of 
any kind was a strong factor in determining emigration. 

Freedom from taxes and tithes was, as has been said, \ 
another strong inducement.^ The rapid reduction of the 
national debt after the establishment of the new republic, 
the constantly increasing self-sufficiency of jthe United 
States in regard to her imports, the unrestricted internal 
trade, the lack of a state church — all of these considera- 
tions helped to reduce the taxes to a minimum amount. 
This sum was chiefly applied to the repair of existing roads 
and the construction of new ones. Certain luxuries, as 
gold watches, for instance, beyond the reach of the average 
person of the time, were subject to a tax. Immigrants paid 
no import duty on their clothes, books, household furni- 
ture, and tools or implements of their trade. ''Thus,'' 
says Thomas Cooper, in 1794, ''they may begin their com- 
merce, manufacture, trades or agriculture on the day of 
their arrival upon the same footing as a native citizen."^ 
It is very evident that the lack of the customary English 
church tithes was an attraction. A late traveller comments 
on the generous salary ($700) which the Independent 
Church at Hartford, Conn., offered its minister, and adds, 
"The Americans are said to have no religion because the 
state is not its nursing father; perhaps they pay so much 
for religion because they want it, while others want it be- 

2 See, on this point, Welby, p. 297; Harris, p. 77; Cooper, pp. 
52-53; also, pp. 209-210; Kendall, I, 135; Flint, p. 174; D'Arusmont, 
p. 136. 

8 Cooper, p. 218. 



28 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

cause they pay so much for it. ' '* This exemption from tithes 
was the direct result of the perfect freedom in the whole 
matter of religion. This seems to have been always a source 
of astonishment to the visiting European, who never fails 
to mention the fact. Practically all comment on it, 
some seeing in it the secret of much that was good in 
American life; others deploring it as indicative of insta- 
bility and consequent failure in the new experiment. 

The lack of actual poverty, in fact, equality in every 
form, whether in wealth, social position, or political rights, 
is much emphasized. Many observers comment on the as- 
tonishingly small number of beggars met with on their 
travels.^ The number never exceeded three or four, and 
more usually there was a single specimen the sight of 
whom emphasized to the visitor the fact that he was the 
sole exception to the general rule. Equality in political 
rights was rather well understood from the very nature of 
the republican government, but the uniformity of the so- 
cial life was often a source of astonishment and sometimes 
of chagrin. English people travelling with servants found 
themselves helpless in preventing the rapid absorption of 
republican principles on the part of maids and valets.^ It 
was rather embarrassing to both master and servant to 
find that they were placed side by side at an inn table and 
that they were generally regarded as equals. To the dis- 
contented lower-class Englishman at home, however, who 
read of this fact, it was indicative of a condition that was 
very alluring. 

James Stuart, after his visit to Mr. Flower's settlement 
in Ohio in 1830, put the freedom from anxiety in regard to 

4Abdy, I, 248-249. 

6 For some mention of lack of beggars, see Boardman, p. 12 ; 
Tudor, II, 412; Fowler, p. 218; Alexander, II, 126-127; Rich, p. 87; 
Fearon, p. 6. 

6 See, for Instance, Fidler, p. 82. 



THE EMIGRANT AND THE TRAVELLER 29 

the future at the head of all the assets of emigration/ 
The fact that the English farmer or mechanic could bring 
his family to a place where possible resources seemed un- 
bounded, and where every man of industry might earn a 
competence to distribute among his children, made the out- 
look very bright to those who were accustomed to look for- 
ward with dread to the future. 

All of these considerations, combined with the attraction 
of the natural resources of the land and the fertility of the 
soil, helped to turn westward an ever-swelling tide of hope- 
ful souls. 

The factors which operated against emigration were just 
as numerous, but perhaps not so effectual. A very obvious 
and practical deterrent, especially in the early days of the i 
period, was fear of the Indian tribes, who made emigra- 
tion seem a dangerous venture to many. The most was 
made of this terror by unsympathetic writers who, it is 
probable, actually prevented a certain amount of emigra- 
tion.^ 

Much more effectual arguments were those that had to 
do with the conditions confronting the mechanic and the 
farmer.^ In the East in the latter part of this period, there 
was constant complaint of lack of employment among me- 
chanics. Immediately after the Revolution, while there 
was not much opening for certain kinds of manufacture, 
such as woolen, linen, etc., the Americans showing a pre- 
dilection for articles of British manufacture, there was a 
great demand for workers in the production of such com- 

7 Stuart, II, 241 ; see also Cooper, pp. 52-53. 

8 Parkinson, p. 160; also the refutation by James Hall, "Letters 
from the West," p. 350. 

9 For facilities for employment see the following: Duncan, I, 338; 
Holmes, pp. 127-128; Hodgson, II, 101; Faux, p. 80; Cooper, pp. 
59-60; Kingdom, p. 3, also p. 7; Fearon, p. 25, also pp. 224-226; 
Bradbury, p. 323. 



30 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

modities as glass, gunpowder, and paper. Cooper in 1794 
mentioned the fact that there were 400 silversmiths in 
Pennsylvania alone. We judge from later accounts that 
this state of affairs did not continue. Faux tells in 1827 
that in Philadelphia there were more laborers than could 
be paid. Eleven thousand men were in a state of unem- 
ployed pauperism, while in one prison there were 600 
thieves and incendiaries. Fearon in 1817 says that in Cin- 
cinnati there was great stagnation of business owing to the 
surplus of shopkeepers, and that in New York, when he 
visited that city, he found a great lack of business among 
cabinet makers, timber merchants, and builders, owing to 
competition. The same state of affairs was noticed around 
Boston where no one was advised to come who could not 
bring from five hundred to a thousand pounds, as many 
were unemployed and nobody was satisfied.^" 

If the emigrant were a farmer, he had very serious prob- 
lems to solve. Land was cheap, and the unwary newcomer, 
with an eye to its future value, often indulged in vast 
tracts. Then he found that superfluous acres were worse 
than useless ^^ because if he employed help sufficient to 
cultivate such an extent of land, there were no profits left 
for himself at the end of the year ; besides, there was often 
no market for the produce that remained after supplying 
the needs of his family. When access to markets was easy, 
these markets were flooded. With no better fate did the 
ordinary farm laborer meet. There is evidence that in 
the Atlantic States at least, the market of farm labor was 
overstocked. Adam Hodgson (1819-21) says that laborers 
should not come to America no matter how uncomfortable 

10 Faux, p. 55. 

iiDalton, pp. 221-222; Parkinson, II, 26-27; Duhring, p. 173. 
Darby ("Emigrants' Guide," pp. 297-298) issues a warning against 
this. 



THE EMIGRANT AND THE TRAVELLER 31 

their condition might be; ''five out of ten may wander 
about for weeks or months in the agricultural districts of 
Pennsylvania without finding regular employment or the 
means of supporting themselves by their labor. "^^ 

Granted that the material conditions were favorable, 
there were still unsurmountable difficulties in the way of 
enjoyment of the new life. These were sometimes con- 
cerned with climate, the extremes and sudden changes of 
which the Englishman was ill-prepared to endure.^^ The 
frequent lack of even decent accommodations, of English 
comforts and pleasures, was not to be ignored. The dif- 
ference in manners, the daily annoyances to which he was 
subjected, irritated the Englishman beyond measure. 
These last considerations often gave pause to the most 
enthusiastic of lovers of America and produced very often 
the cautious statement that if a man were at all comfortable 
and happy in England, he was not encouraged by the 
writer to leave that country. 

Granting, however, that emigration could not be checked, 
few of those who wrote could abstain from advice to the 
Englishman who was seeking a new home in America. 
Some of these advisers, for the most part self-constituted, 
wrote primarily, some only incidentally, for the emigrant. 
In the former class were many Americans who tried to 
direct into the right channel the activities of the new- 
comers. Men like Benjamin Franklin, for instance, real- 
ized the importance of the movement and foresaw its 
bearing on the future of the United States. Franklin's 
''Information to Those Who Would Remove to America'* 
was referred to constantly by both Americans and Eng- 
lishmen, and was considered extremely practical in its 

12 Hodgson, II, 101. 

13 For extremes of climate, see Holmes, p. 124; Candler, p. 494 S.; 
Davis, Stephen, p. 29. 



32 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

advice. A much read and very useful book of this type 
was William Darby's ''Emigrant's Guide" (1818) writ- 
ten for those who sought a home in the western and 
southwestern states and territories. It comprised all the 
information one might need, in "one portable and cheap 
volume. ' ' ^* Not only was it literally a guide book as to 
roads, etc., but it made a point of explaining a subject 
little understood by the average emigrant — land-tenure in 
the newly settled regions. Comprehensive, practical, and 
unbiased, this book is a fine example of its kind of litera- 
ture. Most of the American books are of local interest 
only, and set forth the condition of affairs in only a 
limited section. This is true of Drake's ''Account of 
Cincinnati," of Stoddard's, of Brackenridge's, and of 
Darby's "Louisiana." It was not until a later date that 
more comprehensive works appeared. 

Another individualized type of guide was that drawn 
up by such groups of people as the Shamrock Society of 
New York to encourage emigration. In 1817, this or- 
ganization published "Hints to Emigrants from Europe 
who intend to make a permanent residence in the United 
States, on subjects economical and political." This tract 
offers much useful advice to the emigrant, under three 
heads : ' ' First, what relates to his personal safety in a new 
climate; secondly, his interests as a probationary resident; 
and thirdly, his future rights and duties as a member of 
a free state." ^^ 

Many of the English books written for the emigrant's 
direction divided the honors between the United States and 
Canada ; several of them, in fact, urged the superior advan- 
tages of the British province. 

One of the earliest of books written especially for the 

14 Darby, "Emigrants* Guide," Preface, p. 1. 

15 See "Hints to Emigrants," p. 7. 



THE EMIGRANT AND THE TRAVELLER 33 

emigrant was Thomas Cooper's ''Some Information Re- 
specting America" (1794). While the author confined his 
travels to the East, he set forth fairly the relative advan- 
tages of each part of the country; for further aid to his 
readers, he quoted Franklin 's tract, ' ' Information to Those 
Who Would Remove to America. ' ' Pickering 's ' ' Inquiries 
of an Emigrant," though dealing with Canada primarily, 
had much that was useful to all emigrants. John Palmer 
(1818) affixed to his journal of travels in the United States 
and Canada a great amount of information relative to all 
the chief cities in America, together with a variety of other 
useful information. He declares his aim to have been in- 
formation to emigrants. The books, however, both Amer- 
ican and English, which were written primarily to dis- 
seminate information, are in the minority. With most 
writers, the advice was incidental and found a place in 
scattered passages or in an appendix. These admonitions 
make sometimes very amusing reading, and are never the 
least interesting part of the author's reaction to the new 
country. They range from the discussion of the dangers 
of drinking too much cold water to information in regard 
to the best part of the country for settlement. 

Of course, one of the first decisions which the emigrant 
had to make concerned the time of year when he should 
travel. Generally, he was advised to make his journey in 
the early spring to avoid the extreme heat of the American 
summer. In that case, he might land at New York; if he 
started later, he was advised to land as far north as pos- 
sible, namely, at Boston. The choice of a port depended 
too on whether the emigrant was going west after his ar- 
rival. If his destination was Ohio or any other point in 
that region, he was advised to land at Philadelphia or Bal- 
timore as being more on the direct route w^estward.^^ 
16 Cooper, p. 80. 



34 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

John Bradbury in 1818 took a journey to the western 
country in search of data on American natural history. 
On his return to England, he felt impelled to help obviate 
the distress he had witnessed on his travels, — distress due 
to the ignorance of the emigrant. He says that the first 
step necessary to the prospective settler is to * * provide him- 
self with a proper certificate setting forth his trade or 
profession, and testifying that he has never been employed 
in manufactures, or machine making, or in works of brass, 
iron, or steel pertaining to manufacture." This certificate 
was to be signed by the minister and church wardens of 
his parish and was intended to satisfy the English law 
prohibiting the emigration of manufacturers and machin- 
ists to the United States.^'' 

In 1798, cabin passengers were obliged to pay from 
twenty-five guineas to thirty pounds, for which they were 
''found" in everything except bedding and linen; steerage 
passengers escaped with a payment of eight to ten pounds, 
children at half price. ^^ There were other advantages in 
travelling steerage; the emigrant's baggage escaped the 
custom house officers, as his goods were entered by the 
captain of the ship on which he crossed. Later, the steer- 
age passenger found his own provisions.^^ He was admon- 
ished to remember, in making out his list, that he and his 
family would probably be seasick and unable to cook, there- 
fore enough cold food for the voyage must be provided. 
Tea, coffee, sugar, biscuits, butter, cheese, hams, salt, soap, 
and candles were part of the essentials, with some oatmeal 
and molasses if there were small children — of all these 
things there must be enough to last eight weeks at least. 
Bottles of vinegar for disinfection of ship's quarters were 

17 Bradbury, pp. 318-320. 

18 Cooper, p. 80. 

19 Flint, p. 115. 



THE EMIGRANT AND THE TRAVELLER 35 

included ; to that same end, a red-hot piece of iron dipped 
into a kettle of pitch was often employed when prac- 
ticable.^*^ Cooper advised the traveller to take plenty of 
lemons and apples or other fruit that would keep, as they 
were invaluable in cases of seasickness. Of the latter he 
says, ''This complaint is not dangerous, and is better sub- 
mitted to than prevented. It goes off earlier by exercise 
upon deck in the open air than by staying below in the 
cabin; and it is better cured by gentle dilution than by 
loading your stomach with food or by any preventive or 
curative medicines. On landing, your health will be bet- 
ter for having been sick at sea. This is at least as true 
with respect to females as the male sex. ' ' ^^ 

Little furniture was carried by the newcomer as it was 
for the most part cheaper in the United States than in 
Great Britain.-^ Bedding was taken of course, as it had 
to be provided for the voyage. Small articles like glasses 
and crockery were to be packed in large boxes or trunks, 
preferably the latter, as they were the easier to handle. 
Clothes enough for a year's wear were recommended. If 
a man intended to farm in America, he often took seed 
wheat or hay seed with him for convenience. His farm- 
ing implements were all made in America.^^ 

Arrived at an American port, the emigrant presented 
his letters of introduction, if he possessed them, and pre- 
pared to find a place in which to settle.^^ Whether he was 
a farmer or a mechanic he was advised to go westward. 
In 1812 the expense of travelling by stage from Phila- 
delphia to Pittsburg was $20, and I21/2 cents for every 

20 Bradbury, Appendix, pp. 321-322. 

21 Cooper, p. 82. 

22 Bradbury, Appendix, p. 320. 

23 Cooper, pp. 83-84. 

24 Bradbury, Appendix, p. 322. 



36 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

pound of luggage beyond fourteen. ''The charges by the 
way," says Melish, "are about $7. The whole distance is 
297 miles and the stage travels it in six days. The expense 
of travelling by waggon is 5 dollars per c^vt. for both per- 
sons and property; and the charges by the way are about 
12 dollars. A waggon performs the journey in about twenty 
days. " ^^ If the man of the party chose to walk over the 
mountains, the family went much more cheaply. Provi- 
sions were cooked in a camp kitchen set up by the road- 
side, and a comfortable bed was available in the wagon.^^ 
These vehicles had "a canvass cover stretched over hoops 
that pass from one side to the other, in the form of an 
arch. The front is left open to give the passengers within 
the vehicle the benefit of a free circulation of cool air. ' ' ^^ 
If the newcomer went as far as the Ohio and wished to 
descend the river, he was advised to buy an ark for the 
purpose, in partnership with three or four other families. 
These arks were flat-bottomed and square at the ends, and 
were all made with the same dimensions; fifty feet in 
length and fourteen feet in breadth. They were covered, 
and were managed by a steering oar. The usual price was 
seventy-five dollars and they were often sold at the end 
of the journey for nearly what they cost.^^ 

That the unsuspecting emigrant again and again fell 
into the hands of rascally speculators, of whom the western 
country particularly was full, is very evident from the 
repetition of admonitions to look well to one's purse, and 
to invest carefully. The man who came into the new coun- 
try with even a little money must use caution to conceal the 

25 Melish, II, 52; Holmes, p. 141. 

26 Bradbury, p. 324; Harris, p. 123; Kingdom, p. 2. 

27 Flint, p. 65. 

28 For the Ohio River ark, see Bradbury, pp. 324-325; Flint, pp. 
96-97; Baily, pp. 152-153. 



THE EMIGRANT AND THE TRAVELLER 37 

existence of it or he would prove a victim to the importu- 
nities of landsharks of all nationalities.^® Money was pro- 
vided in gold and silver rather than in notes, especially 
in those of distant states. 

A besetting sin to which the emigrant often yielded, and 
against w^hich he was warned, was intemperance. Much 
is said of the cheapness of spirits and the facility of ob- 
taining them. There was a theory in Europe that the in- 
tense heat of the American summer forbade the use of cold 
water and that the natives took to strong drink instead. 
This theory is the basis of much that is said about the 
intemperance of the Americans, as we shall see later. 
. By such intimate and detailed information did those 
who were interested in emigration, whether native Ameri- 
cans or travelled Englishmen, try to guide the thousands 
of weary but eager feet that sought Utopia. Courage was 
needed for the enterprise, and a sense of humor, and adap- 
tation to circumstances. All of these were enjoined on 
the traveller and emigrant. He was warned that he would 
meet with many hardships to which he was unaccustomed, 
and that nothing could be gained in America without labor, 
and plenty of it. 

What classes of men, then, were to surmount these diffi- 
culties and eventually to become prosperous and desirable 
citizens of the republic? For what types of people was 
such a change beneficial ? ^^ The extreme poor, of what- 
ever trade or occupation, were always bettered by emigra- 
tion to America if they were industrious and willing to 
work. Except in the eastern congested districts, it was al- 

29 Bradbury, p. 329. 

30 For a discussion of the classes of people who should, or should 
not emigrate, see Fearon, pp. 437-442; Davis, Stephen, pp. 146-147; 
Duhring, pp. 171 and 175; Cooper, pp. 58-59, 62-64; Candler, pp. 
494-495; Wilson, C. H., Appendix, p. 1078; Weston, pp. 168-169. 



38 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

ways possible to find employment with a tradesman as an 
apprentice, or with farmers who had more land than they 
could manage to cultivate. In a year a man was generally 
proficient in his new trade. Manufactures of other than 
useful articles found slight foothold in Alnerica in the 
earlier part of the period under discussion. Luxuries had 
little place in American life, and the production of them 
was relegated to countries with wealth to buy them and 
leisure to enjoy them. Merchants, tradesmen, and shop- 
keepers, unless they had previously formed connections, 
found it hard to establish a patronage until they had served 
a sort of local apprenticeship. Once established, they 
usually succeeded, though shopkeeping became, as we have 
seen, an occupation very much overdone. Most profes- 
sional men were in the early days decidedly out of their 
element, unless an exception is made in the case of lawyers, 
who seem to have been always extremely busy with the 
vast amount of litigation over land titles, etc. Divines 
apparently succeeded as schoolmasters rather than in their 
original capacity. The student of the fine arts and the 
literary man as such seem to have had small reason for 
coming to this country. 

The introduction of English servants was not generally 
encouraged. They seem to have been too sophisticated to 
be a success in the employ of the average American; in- 
deed, most foreign servants, not understanding conditions, 
seem to have been generally at a loss and unsatisfactory.^^ 
The most useful class were the German and Swiss peasants, 
many of whom came to Pennsylvania, and beginning as 
assistants to farmers and country gentlemen, soon earned 
enough to buy a home and thus to become landed propri- 
etors. Bradbury says that the reason for the greater suc- 
cess of the German, Dutch, and Swiss was not their greater 
31 D'Arusmont, p. 338. 



THE EMIGRANT AND THE TRAVELLER 39 

industry or economy but their more judicious mode of 
settling. They were more likely to plan ahead and usually 
engaged an agent. When arrangements were made, they 
moved over in a body.^^ 

In the selection of the region to which they were to 
emigrate, newcomers had a wide field for choice. This 
selection was governed by several important considerations. 
For instance, we find very few new settlers emigrating to 
the Southern states. Though curiosity often led travellers 
thither, almost none sought a new home there. One great 
drawback was the enervating climate, another greater one 
was the presence of slavery with all its accompanying 
evils as the European saw them.^^ 

In the more thickly populated states on the seaboard, 
land became so dear as to be beyond the means of the 
majority, and early reached its maximum value as an in- 
vestment. Those who felt that they could afford to settle 
here were again limited by their aversion to the cold climate 
of Maine and the mosquitoes and agues of New Jersey. 
Western Pennsylvania was an extremely attractive loca- 
tion, as it possessed "a, healthy climate, a good soil, abun- 
dance of coal, iron-ore, limestone, sandstone, and salt 
springs," but he who settled there had no market facili- 
ties for disposing of his produce. The same was true of 
western New York until after the Erie Canal was com- 
pleted in 1825.^"* Besides, the winters of New York were 
more severe than those of Pennsylvania. In the seventeen 
nineties, an English colony was proposed in Pennsylvania 
on the Loyalsock Creek, about 170 miles west of Phila- 

32 D'Arusmont, p. 342; Sutcliffe, p. 34; Bradbury, p. 338. 

33 Holmes, p. 142; Cooper, p. 7. 

34 Flint, pp. 181-183; Cooper, p. 16. "New York State laws do 
not permit aliens to purchase, transmit or convey landed property," 
see also on this, Holmes, p. 142. 



40 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

delphia. This site was supposed to represent the most 
favorable situation in the whole state, in climate, in height 
above sea level, and in fertility of the soil.^^ 

The great crowds that pressed westward over the Al- 
leghanies were significant of a condition which was made 
more manifest by the fact that so many thousands of 
inhabitants of the Eastern states joined the throngs of new 
arrivals. John Palmer in 1818 remarked on the fact that 
Vermont and New Hampshire w^ere but slowly increasing 
in population, for so many people emigrated to the new 
states. Some towns had lost as many as forty families in 
a year. *'In several instances," he says, *'I have seen 
elderly people about to quit good farms on which they 
were getting a living, to go and form new connections in 
the west. This is carrying the thing to excess, but Amer- 
icans on any part of the continent are at home; and it 
certainly is better for their children, as in the west there 
is a milder climate and plenty of room for centuries to 
come." ^® 

The country north of the Ohio was very fertile and 
attracted great numbers of people. Blowe says it was set- 
tled not with regard to health but for gain.^^ Mechanics 
and farmers were very much in demand here, but the wise 
settler chose a site at some distance from the river, as the 
tendency of the Ohio to overflow its banks caused fever and 
ague, which rendered the victim practically incapable of 
employment. All settlements along the Western rivers were 
unhealthful ; all swampy places were to be shunned by the 
prudent settler. 

Proximity to the Ohio offered, however, a very practical 

35 Cooper, pp. 73-74. 

36 Palmer, p. 202 ; also see, on emigration from New England, 
Bradbury, pp. 309-310, 318; Blowe, p. 163; Cooper, p. 79. 

37 Blowe, p. 163. 



THE EMIGRANT AND THE TRAVELLER 41 

advantage ; it provided a free water route to New Orleans, 
a city which was expected to rival and indeed to surpass 
New York in commercial activity. Many curious facts are 
revealed by travel literature in regard to the prevailing 
attitude toward New Orleans. Unhealthful to an extreme, 
a veritable pest hole of yellow fever, this city was called 
**the wet grave," as it was built so near the level of the 
water that graves dug for the reception of the dead were 
filled with water before the coffin could be lowered. ^^ Yet 
there seems to have been something extremely fascinating 
to the stranger in the gay life, the mixed population, the 
atmosphere of romance that shed a glamor over the vice 
and dissipation, and above all, in the practical commercial 
possibilities of the city. 

The land south of the Ohio presented a marked contrast 
to the northern tract. True, it too was extremely fertile, 
and therefore offered great advantages, but these were off- 
set by local drawbacks. A very serious one to the farmer, 
especially, was the prevalent insecurity of land titles. The 
Kentucky region was surveyed very early and very poorly, 
and mistakes were constantly being made in regard to the 
possession of the land. Therefore, the region was the scene 
of endless and complicated litigation, which fact kept it in 
bad repute.^^ In the second place, the wildness of the coun- 
try, its isolation in spite of the fact that one of the roads 
to the West passed through it, gave a peculiarly uncivilized 
character to the inhabitants, and many were the wild tales 
narrated of the gouging and gander-pulling, drinking and 
gambling of these people to whom the travellers, albeit 
reluctantly, had to concede the virtues of generosity, hos- 
pitality, and warmth of character."*^ Fevers of all sorts 

38 Alexander, II, 30. 

39 Winterbotham, p. 315; Flint, p. 184, also note; Ouseley, p. 138. 
^oMelish, II, 94; Fearon, p. 243. 



42 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

were prevalent here. Fearon says that about every twelfth 
house in Louisville in 1818 was a doctor 's,^^ Slavery, too, 
proved a drawback to settlement in this region. 

Though little was known in the period under considera- 
tion of the region along the Missouri, it was supposed to be 
rich in coal, silver, lead, and other minerals, and was 
credited with great advantages in soil and climate.*^ Flint 
says that the difficulty of navigating the river deterred 
many.*^ Most of the people along both banks of the Mis- 
sissippi were ''squatters"; many of them maintained a 
precarious ague-stricken existence by supplying wood to the 
Mississippi steamboats. They were credited by people who 
passed on the river with being outcasts, criminals, and 
''men of broken characters, hopes and fortunes who fly not 
from justice, but contempt."'** 

The section which seems to have represented a combina- 
tion of the good features of other places, with few of the 
drawbacks, was the territory of the Illinois. One authority 
says: "There is perhaps no country in the world where a 
farmer can commence operations with so small an outlay 
of money and so soon obtain a return, as in Illinois. ' ' *^ The 
land was cheap and of great fertility. In 1830, there were 
only 150,000 people occupying a tract of land greater than 
England. It united the advantages of rich soil, a ready 
market for produce, goo'd climate, no slavery, and a pro- 
portionally great number of schools and churches. James 
Stuart advised all who wished to settle in that region to 
take certain precautions: "What I would recommend to 
the stranger emigrating to this country would be that he 

41 Fearon, p. 243. 

42 Bradbury, p. 250 ff. 

43 Flint, p. 191. 

44 Hamilton, II, 187. 

45 Shirreflf, p. 446. 



THE EMIGRANT AND THE TRAVELLER 43 

should apply at the land offices at Springfield or at Van- 
dalia, or at any other of the land offices, and get the sur- 
veyors to show him those situations which they look on as 
most desirable ; first, in point of health ; secondly, in point 
of soil; thirdly y in being provided with good water and a 
sufficient quantity of wood, which is not always the case in 
the prairie land, and ought most especially to be attended 
to, strong wooden fences being indispensable ; and fourthly, 
in point of convenience of situation, including the neighbor- 
hood to a town, schools and churches and the means of com- 
munication by roads and rivers. ' ' ^^ 

Evidently, therefore, the region west of Pittsburg and 
the Alleghanies offered more advantages to the emigrant 
than did the more densely populated east. To the farmer 
the superiority of this section was obvious; to the man in 
trade, the profits in business were greater and the expense 
of living much less ; to the European generally, the climate, 
lacking the extremes of heat and cold of the Atlantic 
States, was much more suited to his constitution. The bene- 
fits accruing to the man who had the courage to make the 
journey with his family seem in most cases to have more 
than repaid him for the toil and hardship undergone. 

The settler's first care after acquiring his new land was 
to cut down trees for his log house, which was often finished 
in a few days and at a moderate cost for labor, if he could 
secure labor at all. The next task was to clear the land, to 
root out underbrush and small trees, which were burnt 
upon the land. Next came the felling of trees immediately 
around his house, both for the sake of living conditions and 
for the necessary supply of fence rails. The land was 
then lightly ploughed or scratched with a harrow, the grain 
was sown, and the new life begun. Later a frame building 
replaced the log hut, more and more land was cultivated as 
46 Stuart, II, 223. 



44 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

resources increased, communities were formed, churches 
and schools built, and the locality took on a definite char- 
acter, largely determined by the nature of the previous life 
of the settler and the part of the world from which he had 
emigrated. 

Before bringing to an end this discussion of the emigrant, 
we must notice one particular type of settler who is men- 
tioned frequently in travel literature. This is the ' ' redemp- 
tioner, ' ' a foreigner who could not afford to pay his passage 
to America and who, as a result, became "bound out" for 
a certain number of years to the captain of the vessel on 
which he sailed.*' This master, in turn, sold the services 
of these unfortunates to settlers who needed them. A 
great deal is said of this practice, and the cruelty of cap- 
tains to their victims was made a subject of reproach to 
Americans. Parkinson even went so far as to say that the 
men who published the favorable accounts of the United 
States were hired by Americans to contract with captains 
of ships to bring over such as were unable to pay their 
passage that they might buy them when they arrived in 
America. 

These redemptioners were supposedly governed by very 
severe laws formed for English con\dcts before the Revolu- 
tion. Irish and German societies tried to mitigate the 
cruelty of them, and did a great deal toward alleviating 
the distress of their countrymen. The Irish especially 
came over in great numbers. Priest mentions that he saw 
at Baltimore in 1802 a large vessel from Ireland, that he 
found three at Newcastle and one in Philadelphia. Each 
vessel probably held about 250 passengers. He tells a har- 
rowing tale of cruelty that was perpetrated on a ship loaded 

*7 For "redemptioners," see Janson, pp. 461-462; Parkinson, I, 
Introd. p. 20; Priest, p. 142 ff.; Fearon, pp. 148-151; Palmer, pp. 
164-170: Weld, I, 120-122; SutcUffe, pp. 32-34, 



THE EMIGRANT AND THE TRAVELLEB 45 

with Irish redemptioners. Owing to the small provision of 
food and water doled out by the captain, a contagious dis- 
order broke out on board, which carried off great numbers. 
Priest saw and talked with one of the survivors, who con- 
firmed all that he had heard. 

Fearon's disgust with this practice was extreme, and was 
expressed with his usual emphasis. While at Philadelphia, 
he visited a vessel of this type. ''As we ascended the side 
of this bulk a most revolting scene of want and misery 
presented itself. The eye involuntarily turned for some 
relief from the horrible picture of human suffering which 

this living sepulchre afforded. Mr. enquired if there 

were any shoemakers on board. The captain advanced ; his 
appearance bespoke his ofSce; he is an American, tall, de- 
termined, and with an eye that flashes with Algerine 
cruelty. He called in the Dutch language for shoemakers, 
and never can I forget the scene which followed. The poor 
fellows came running up with unspeakable delight, no 
doubt anticipating a relief from their loathsome dungeon. 
Their clothes, if rags deserve that denomination, actually 
perfumed the air. Some were without shirts, others had 
this article of dress but of a quality as coarse as the worst 
packing cloth. . . . Such is the mercenary barbarity of 
the Americans who are engaged in this trade that they 
crammed into one of those vessels 500 passengers, SO of 
whom died on the voyage. The price for women is about 
70 dollars, men 50 dollars, and boys 60 dollars. When 
they saw at our departure that we had not purchased, their 
countenances fell to that standard of stupid gloom which 
seemed to place them a link below rational beings." Even 
after a centur\-, it is pleasant to know that Robert TValsh 
took up this statement of Fearon's in "An Appeal from 
the Judgments of Great Britain" (1819), and showed that 
not only were the ship and the captain English, but that 



46 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

of the vessels that entered the port of Philadelphia in the 
years 1816 and 1817, laden with redemptioners, the greater 
number were foreign, of which half were British. 

Other Englishmen, while deploring this custom, gave a 
less prejudiced view of it. R. Sutcliffe, a Quaker who 
visited America in 1804, 1805, and 1806, was a guest in a 
family who employed two servants of this class. He says 
that though the situation of these redemptioners naturally 
aroused a feeling of compassion, they generally enjoyed 
kindly treatment. John Palmer, in 1818, saw great numbers 
of redemptioners in the streets of Philadelphia. He says 
that captains sometimes treated them with great cruelty, 
but that this barbarity was an incidental circumstance and 
that laws were already being framed to protect this un- 
fortunate class of people. Nine-tenths of them were bought 
out by their own countrymen and treated with kindness 
during the period of their servitude, which was usually 
three years. 

It remains to discuss in more detail the conditions of 
travel that presented themselves to both the emigrant and 
the stranger whose stay in America was limited in length. 
We must therefore enter into a discussion of the means of 
transportation from place to place, the houses of entertain- 
ment, and the reception accorded the stranger by the native 
American. 

In this period, one had small choice in the means one was 
to take to cover distance. The two conveyances most often 
used in travel were the stage coach by land, and, after 
Fulton's invention, the steamboat by water. It is true 
that one might enjoy a pedestrian journey, as did John 
Davis or Isaac Candler, but most travellers found this too 
slow and too arduous. One travelled sometimes on horse- 
back and sometimes in one's private hired carriage, but the 
majority of people who came to see the new country were 



THE EMIGRANT AND THE TRAVELLER 47 

obliged to mingle with their fellow travellers in the en- 
forced intimacy of the stage coach. Of this useful vehicle 
in its palmy days we have many descriptions.*^ Most of us 
probably are familiar with pictures of it standing before 
an inn door, as it was usually represented, while the driver, 
in a hat which was a cross between a western sombrero 
and the old fashioned ' ' beaver, ' ' obligingly cracked his long 
whip over the backs of the four stationary horses. Though 
the Englishman was acquainted with his native stage 
coach, he was continually surprised at the changes which 
the Americans had made in evolving their type. The lat- 
ter was a ponderous sort of vehicle; the body was swung 
on great leather straps which served as springs. The top 
was rounded, therefore no baggage was carried except at 
the back, where the impedimenta rested on broad leather 
thongs. The American coach that was typical throughout 
most of this period carried nine people inside, and one on 
the low seat beside the driver in front. No one rode out- 
side, perhaps because it was considered dangerous on ac- 
count of the roughness of the roads. The nine inside pas- 
sengers sat in three seats, facing the front of the coach. 
The three people who occupied the middle seat used for a 
back a broad leather strap which passed across the coach. 
Vigne says that this occasionally became unhooked as the 
vehicle passed over a forest road, and that the heads of the 
passengers on the middle seat were instantly thrown in con- 
tact with the stomachs of those who were behind them. 
Side panels of eifher leather or oilskin were let down in 
wet weather, but seem to have been generally unsuccessful 
in preventing discomfort. The choice seat for the traveller 

48 For a few of the descriptions of the American stage coach, see 
the following: Palmer, p. 11; Fidler, p. 119; Vigne, I, 60-61; Duncan, 
II, 6 ff., also 316; Hamilton, I, 146-148; Mrs. Trollope, I, 270 j 
Candler, p. 40; Boardman, p. 121; Twining, T., p. 5D. 



48 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

was the one beside the driver; not only could one elicit 
useful information from the latter, who was often an inter- 
esting character, but he could foresee all the bad places in 
the road and fortify himself against much of the jolting 
and other discomfort.^^ 

In 1794, Wansey, in going from Boston to New York 
by stage, paid four pence a mile and was allowed fourteen 
pounds of baggage.^^ Thomas Cooper, at about the same 
time, estimates that the expense of travel between Phila- 
delphia and New York, both as to carriage and living by 
the way, was about one-third cheaper than between the 
metropolis and any of the great towns of England.^^ The 
fares were collected piecemeal because of the frequent 
changes from one vehicle to another, of which travellers 
often complained. 

Where stage lines were not available, the traveller him- 
self had to assume the responsibility for his transportation. 
Candler says (1824) : ''In the newly settled parts, and in 
the bye-roads of the older, the traveller must content him- 
self as well as he can in a light tilted wagon, in which, if the 
road be rough, he will experience a jolting painful to flesh 
and bones. Great command of temper is necessary for one 
who ... is for the first time seated in one of these wagons 
when travelling on what is technically called a gridiron 
road, that is, a road formed ... of trunks of trees placed 
across from side to side, covered with a layer of soil. On 
such a road, I have found the jolting so great as to knock 
my head violently against the sides and top of the vehicle, 
besides its making my hip bones quite sore. ' ' ^^ This type of 
wagon was sometimes called the ''coachee" — we have one 
detailed description of it. "The body of the coachee is 
rather longer than that of the coach; the front of it is 

*9Abdy, II, 294. si Cooper, p. 140. 

50 Wansey, p. 31. 52 Candler, pp. 40-41. 



THE EMIGRANT AND THE TRAVELLER 49 

quite open, down to the bottom; and the driver sits on a 
bench under the roof of the carriage : within are two seats 
for the passengers, who are placed with their faces toward 
the horses: the roof is supported by props; it is likewise 
open above the pannels on each side of the doors, and as a 
defence against bad weather, it is furnished with a leather 
curtain which encloses the open part." ^^ 

The horses which drew the stage were many times the 
subject of admiring comment. Much was said of their 
remarkable qualities, — their endurance and sagacity, and 
of the perfect understanding which seems to have existed 
between themselves and their drivers. Seldom did a travel- 
ler see a blind, spavined, or lame stage horse. ^* The driver, 
too, was the recipient of universal if sometimes reluctant 
admiration. He could be trusted in all sorts of difficulties 
by the way; nothing disturbed his equanimity or his good 
nature, though his vehicle broke down repeatedly in the 
course of one day's journey, and the time-honored robbing 
of the snake fences for rails with which to extricate the 
party from a bad mud hole, had to be perpetrated ad 
infinitum. He was often poorly dressed and wore no in- 
dication of his profession ; * ' a man in rusty black, with the 
appearance of a retired grave-digger" — thus Thomas 
Hamilton describes the driver of his coach. He might be 
almost anybody — a district judge, a farmer, or a captain 
in the army, and many a traveller discovered incidentally 
that he was being driven to his destination by one of the 
most influential citizens of the community.^^ 

53 Wakefield, p. 11. 

54 On stage horses, see Palmer, p. 42; Wansey, p. 36; Hamilton, 
I, 147. 

55 For interesting descriptions of the stage driver, see De Roos, 
pp. 98-99; Twining, p. 64; Weld, I, 38; Hamilton, I, 148; Shirreff, 
p. 49; Holmes, pp. 357-360. 



50 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

The stages were necessarily built heavy and very strong 
to resist the effects of travel over the notoriously bad 
roads. Everywhere, one meets with mention of this con- 
dition of the thoroughfares, and each traveller, as he goes 
through the country, believes that he has discovered the 
worst road in America — until he has occasion to take the 
stage again in another locality. Weld said, just after the 
Revolution, that the worst roads in the United States were 
undoubtedly in Maryland.^^ Here the stage passengers 
were obliged to shift from side to side constantly, on signal 
from the driver, to prevent the coach from overturning in 
the ruts. Later Francis Hall claimed the same distinction 
for Virginia, with its stiff clay soil through which the 
traveller floundered helplessly.^^ Harriet Martineau could 
conceive of nothing worse than the roads of Georgia, unless 
it w^ere those of the Michigan woods.^^ New Jersey, west- 
ern Pennsylvania, and even Massachusetts, received their 
share of condemnation ; indeed there is very little favorable 
mention of any of the American roads unless it were those 
of central New York, which met with occasional praise.^^ 
James Stuart expressed astonishment that the thorough- 
fares were as good as he found them, considering the 
method of building them. They were usually made and 
kept in repair by the inhabitants themselves. Small stones 
were not used, as in the present method, but holes were 
filled with clay, and brush and saplings were pressed into 
service in muddy spots. When possible, the way led over 
a ridge as being more likely to remain dry here than on 
low land.^^ 

66 Weld, I, 37; see also Palmer, p. 41. 

57 Hall, F., p. 208. 

58 Martineau, I, 215. 

59 Hamilton, I, 148, also II, 308-309; Melish, II, 355. 

60 Stuart, I, 180; Holmes, pp. 320-321; Duncan, II, 8; Weld, I, 37. 



THE EMIGRANT AND THE TRAVELLER 51 

Mention has already been made of the gridiron or cordu- 
roy roads. These connected isolated communities or led 
from them into the more settled parts. Despite the harm 
which they did to both the body and the disposition of the 
unfortunate wayfarer, they seem to have been looked upon 
for many years as the only expedient. Tudor says of them 
(1831) : ''They are formed of many miles in succession of 
the stems of trees placed together transversely, and afford 
to a person troubled with indigestion an excellent oppor- 
tunity for the due secretion of the gastric juice, though like 
all other remedies of a medicinal nature, accompanied by 
somewhat of inconvenience; for the unceasing jolts oc- 
casioned by passing over them threatened not infrequently 
to counter-balance this advantage by a rather uncomfortable 
dislocation. These anti-bilious communications . . . are 
designated corduroy roads, and I think the unhappy wight 
who has once travelled over them would never be inclined 
to wear a garment made of the stuff whence the name is 
borrowed, however fashionable it might become, from the 
ungrateful association that would always be connected with 
it ; as a sympathetic ache of the bones would naturally ac- 
company the direction of the eye when regarding its mimic 
ridges. ' ' ^^ There was a story current that a Scotchman, 
packing his baggage for a stage ride, unwisely left some 
silver dollars in his clothes. When he arrived at his destin- 
ation, he found that the coins, from the continual jolting, 
had escaped from their confinement and had literally cut 
his clothes to pieces.^^ 

Lambert attributes the excellence of the central New 
York roads to the existence of turnpikes. These came to 
be very much in evidence in the Northern and Middle States. 
They were roads made in the more settled districts by stock 
companies; 'Hhe expenses are defrayed," Lambert says, 

61 Tudor, II, 434. 62 Palmer, p. 45. 



52 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

''by shares subscribed by a certain number of persons who 
form themselves in a company under an act of the legis- 
lature. It is a speculation that few have failed in, for the 
traffic on the road soon increases the value of the capi- 
tal."®^ These roads were of course supported by tolls. 
* ' Turn pike tolls were not payable by persons going to and 
from public worship, funeral, grist-mill or blacksmith's 
shop — for physician or midwife, or passing on public busi- 
ness as jurors, electors or militiamen. There is an exemp- 
tion for those who reside within a mile of the gate, except 
carriers, etc. ' ' ^^ 

"When interest in the new railroad system was at its 
height, we find that many hitherto popular roads became 
neglected and almost impassable, because so great were the 
hopes entertained of the new venture that it was not con- 
sidered necessary to repair and keep in order the old high- 
way. This seems to have been especially true of the roads 
in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. 

The difficulties of travel were increased in the isolated 
parts by the lack of bridges, or their poor quality where 
they existed.^^ Usually a stream had to be forded; if a 
bridge had been made, it was of slippery logs, so poorly 
put together that the unwary passenger often found him- 
self thrown from his vehicle into the stream or driving 
through water which came up to the seats of the wagon. 
Basil Hall had the latter experience when he tried to cross 
the Yam Grandy Kiver in Georgia. He and his party had 
to maintain a footing on a bridge that consisted for part 

63 Lambert, II, 33; Hamilton, II, 308; Maude, p. 33; Twining, 
pp. 62-63; Palmer, p. 178; Melish, I, 125. 

64Abdy, I, 327 (note). 

65 For difficulties with bridges, see Martineau, I, 217-218; Flint, 
p. 131; Melish, I, 257-258; Hall, B., Ill, 265 ff.; Duncan, II, 9; 
Twining, pp. 60-61. 



THE EMIGRANT AND THE TRAVELLER 53 

of the way of one log, while his driver took his chances 
with the carriage fording the stream. 

Less difficulty confronted the traveller who journeyed by 
boat on the water courses of the United States. Before 
the days of the steamboat, the sloop was, in the East, much 
in evidence. This was a safe but slow means of transporta- 
tion. Its place was taken on the Western waters by the keel 
boat, or the flat boat, of which some mention has already 
been made. After 1810, the Americans could offer to the 
travelling European a means of locomotion of which they 
themselves were extremely proud, and which met with 
universal admiration from the travelling public.®^ The 
steamboats that navigated the Hudson were especially 
commended. The '^ Chancellor Livingston," Fearon says, 
(1818) ''was equalled by none in the world." It was 
a ''floating palace," with an eighty-horse-power engine. 
Much wonder was expressed at the speed of these boats 
("five miles an hour against wind and tide"), the luxurious 
furnishings, the general air of elegance, the good food, and 
the cheapness of it all. Palmer travelled on the "Chan- 
cellor Livingston," and paid a fare of seven dollars from 
Albany to New York, plus a state tax of one dollar toward 
the expense of building the Erie Canal. Though he grum- 
bled slightly at this extra charge, he considered that the fare 
was extremely reasonable. After 1810, no visitor to Amer- 
ica who had not travelled on one of these boats between 
Albany and New York deemed his trip complete. The only 
complaint seems to have been that no separation was made 
on these boats between the genteel and the less polished 
people.^^ Rules for behavior, however, were many and 

66 For praise of the American steamboat, see Lambert, II, 37 ; 
Daviss, p. 78; Fowler, pp. 38, 168; Stuart, I, 40-42; Duncan, II, 
314; Martineau, II, 21; Fearon, p. 75; Flint, p. 46; Neilson, p. 44; 
Duncan, I, 306-307; Palmer, pp. 247-248. 6 r Candler, p. 39. 



54 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

strict, playing cards and smoking in the cabin were for- 
bidden, and the only dissipation seems to have been heated 
political controversy, which no man could have checked by 
any rules, even if he had wished to do so.^^ 

It was estimated that in the period from 1811 to 1831, 
there were over 300 steamboats built to navigate the 
great Western rivers. ^^ The awkward and dangerous 
keel boat was quickly supplanted by this new mode of 
locomotion, which shortened the voyage from Louisville to 
New Orleans and back from six or seven months to a little 
over three weeks."^*^ The Western boats were comfortable, 
but were generally conceded to be less luxurious than those 
on the Eastern rivers. They burned wood exclusively, usu- 
ally a cord an hour, at a cost of about three dollars a cord. 
The ** Constitution " on which James Stuart travelled in 
1830, burned twenty-six cords a day. The trip from St. 
Louis to Louisville took a little over eleven days and the 
fare was thirty doUars."^^ In 1830, Ferrall paid twenty-five 
dollars to go from Louisville to New Orleans in a very com- 
fortable boat, and was ''found in everything except 
liquors. ' ' ^^ Much has been written about the dangers of 
navigating the Mississippi, and the pilot of the steam vessel 
found that increased speed of travel did not meet with a 
corresponding accession of safety in navigating. The 
treacherous ''sawyers" and "planters" of the Mississippi 
lay in wait for the steamboat as well as for the slower flat- 
boat, and the shifting sediment on the banks often brought 
her to grief. To these dangers was added that of falling 

68 Lambert, II, 43; also Hamilton, I, 131 ff. 
€9Martineau, II, 21. 

70 Tudor, II, 36. 

71 Stuart, II, 154; Alexander, II, 51; Hall, B., Ill, Chap. XV 
(entire). 

72 Ferrall, p. 179. 



THE EMIGRANT AND THE TRAVELLER 55 

sparks from her smoke-stacks; the history of early inland 
navigation is full of instances of the burning of steamers, 
especially on the Western rivers/^ Nevertheless, the early 
form of steamboat played a great part in opening up the 
New West to the pioneer of the first part of the nineteenth 
century. 

Much more typical of the new country than the means of 
transportation were the places of entertainment by the 
way. Though improvements were constantly being made 
in conditions throughout this period, the housing and feed- 
ing of the stranger was always accompanied by compromise 
and often much inconvenience on the part of both host and 
guest. The average English gentleman could not appreciate 
the advantages of the public parlor, where he was greeted 
with frank curiosity and with clouds of tobacco smoke, any 
more than he could reconcile himself to the frequent neces- 
sity of sleeping between sheets that a problematical number 
of people had used before him or of sharing his room or 
even his bed with a stranger, or strangers. Even if he 
good-naturedly tolerated any of these conditions, he did not 
like them, and he usually said as much.'^* If he stopped at 
an inn, he was more than likely to be expected to sleep in 
a room with several other people; he was fortunate if he 
could get a bed to himself. In times of great congestion, 
as for instance when land sales were going on in the neigh- 
borhood, or when the stream of western pioneers was espe- 
cially great, he was often glad to accept a bed made up on 
the barroom floor, or some other uncomfortable make- 
shift.'^^ Lambert says, in 1816, that the practice of putting 
two or three in a bed was largely discontinued, except in 

73 Alexander, II, 72; Stuart, II, 16 ff. 

74 Flint, p. 73; Blane, pp. 154-155; Hamilton, II, 175; Ferrall, 
p. 117. 

75Martineau, I, 259. 



56 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

the more isolated regions. The prevailing custom was to 
offer the hospitality of a large room with several single 
beds/« 

Even with conditions at their best, the Englishman suf- 
fered greatly from petty annoyances, ranging from the 
prevalence of vermin down to the lack of curtains to his 
bed. Many were the anathemas hurled at the public wash 
basin, usually kept under the inn pump in the yard as 
being a central location, at the miserable little rags of 
towels, the narrow bed clothes, the flabby pillows, and the 
feather beds, to the last of which the Englishman could not 
become reconciled.^^ Harriet Martineau 's progress through 
the new country seems to have been marked by a continual 
struggle for clean sheets and fresh water in her bedroom. 
There were no bells in an American inn, and a correspond- 
ing dearth of attendance existed.'^^ Thomas Hamilton tells 
of his bedtime experience in a tavern in "Worcester, Massa- 
chusetts, in the early thirties : ' * . . . in America there are 
no bells, and no chambermaids. You therefore walk to the 
bar and solicit the favor of being supplied with a candle, 
a request that is ultimately, though by no means immedi- 
ately, complied with. You then explore the way to your 
apartment unassisted. . . . Your number is 63, but in 
what part of the mansion that number is to be found you 
are of course without the means of probable conjecture. 
Let it be supposed, however, that you ... at length dis- 
cover the object of your search. If you are an Englishman, 
and too young to have roughed it under Wellington, you 
are probably what is called in this country * almighty par- 
ticular,' and rejoice in a couple of comfortable pillows to 

76 Lambert, II, 29. 

77 For general conditions, see De Roos, pp. 5-6; Stuart, I, 88; 
Hall, B., Ill, 271; Martineau, I, 215, 219, 255; Weld7l, 114. 

78 Holmes, p. 342; Stuart, I, 88; Martineau, I, 219. 



THE EMIGRANT AND THE TRAVELLER 57 

say nothing of a lurking prejudice in favor of multiplicity 
of blankets, especially with the thermometer some fifty de- 
grees below the freezing point. Such luxuries, however, it 
is ten to one you will not find in the uncurtained crib in 
which you are destined to pass the night. Your first im- 
pulse is to walk downstairs and make known your wants 
to the landlord. This is a mistake. Have nothing to say 
to him. You may rely on it, he is too busy to have any time 
to throw away in humoring the whimsies of a foreigner; 
and should it happen, as it does sometimes, in the New Eng- 
land States, that the establishment is composed of natives, 
your chance of a comfortable sleep for the night is about as 
great as that of your gaining the Thirty Thousand pound 
prize in the lottery. ' ' ^^ 

This indifference of servants and of innkeepers puzzled 
more than one newcomer. In the former class there were 
very few native Americans, as none but the most indifferent 
characters remained in house service, which they consid- 
ered degraded and suitable only for negroes. European 
emigrants of that class quickly imbibed the current ideas 
regarding independence and equality and persisted in the 
occupation only until they had earned a competence for 
some sort of business of their own. These facts explain to 
a great extent the attitude of the American servant class.^^ 
When the stranger, however, learned to ask for what he 
wanted rather than to order it, he found that his request 
was complied with, with a reasonable amount of good 
grace. Then, too, the lack of the ''tipping" system helped 
to propitiate the impatient stranger.^^ 

There was just as little privacy to be gained at meals as 
at any other time. Seldom indeed was a meal served in 

79 Hamilton, I, 249-250. 

80 Weld, I, 29; Boardman, p. 35. 

81 Holmes, p. 355; Dalton, pp. 242-243; Palmer, p. 150. 



58 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

the private room of the guest at an American tavern. 
Every one ate in one large room, and at the same time, 
and it behooved the hungry man who did not wish to wait 
twenty-four hours for his dinner to be on time. A delay 
of even ten minutes was likely to prove fatal. The guests 
congregated before the bar or in the public parlor to await 
the ringing of the bell which signified that the dining room 
doors were about to be opened. Here is an account of the 
typical meals at a Southern inn in 1819 : 

''Usually about half past eight o'clock the bell rings for 
breakfast, and you sit down with 60 or 80 persons to tea 
and coffee, and every variety of flesh, fowl and fish, wheat 
bread, Indian-corn bread, buckwheat cakes, etc. Every one 
rises as soon as he has finished his meal and the busy scene 
is usually over in ten minutes. At two or three o 'clock the 
bell rings, and the door unlocks for dinner. The stream 
rushes in and dribhles out as at breakfast and the room is 
clear in less than a quarter of an hour. . . . The waiters, 
who are numerous, civil and attentive, carve, few people 
appearing to have leisure to assist their neighbors. There 
are decanters of brandy in a row down the table, which 
appeared to me to be used with great moderation and for 
which no extra charge is made. Tea is a repetition of 
breakfast, with the omission of beefsteaks, but in other re- 
spects with almost an equal profusion of meat, fowls, tur- 
key-legs, etc. . . . The picture which I have given you of 
the meals at taverns is not an inviting one: they more re- 
semble a school boy's scramble than a social repast." ®^ 

The landlord's family made part of the company at the 
table, the wife or daughter presiding at the teapot and the 

82 For interesting accounts of meals, see Hodgson, I, 30-32 ( quota- 
tion) ; Palmer, pp. 150-151; Duncan, IT, 319; Janson, p. 80; Tudor, 
I, 37; Harris, p. 66; Fearon, pp. 247-248; Fowler, pp. 120-121; 
Shirreff, p. 34; Alexander, II, 101-102; Boardman, p. 25. 



THE EMIGRANT AND THE TRAVELLER 59 

landlord attending to the introduction of strangers, espe- 
cially if a distinguished person were present.^^ The Ameri- 
can host was often a prosperous farmer as well as an inn- 
keeper, and he was quite likely to be a field officer of the 
militia and altogether a most influential citizen.®* The 
daughters, — indeed all the women of the family, — won al- 
most universal commendation from strangers for their dig- 
nity and reserve.®^ 

It has already been indicated that the food was plentiful 
in quantity.^® Seldom is there a hint of insufficient provi- 
sion in an American inn. Substantial items, such as veal 
cutlets, beefsteaks, chickens, ham, eggs, and cheese, and a 
variety of sweetmeats figured on the table at all of the 
daily meals. In the more unsettled regions a profusion of 
game and fish was added to the menu. The dishes were not 
always cooked and served to the Englishman's liking, — \ 
especially did he detest the American fondness for greasy 
food. The heavy diet and the use of animal food at every 
meal was looked upon by the English as the cause of many 
American diseases.®^ Every house of entertainment had a 
bar. Basil Hall says that there were usually two on every 
steamboat; that even the museum at Albany had one, and 
at the Cauterskill Falls there was one on either side of the 
cataract ! ^^ 

83 Candler, p. 45; Dalton, p. 131. 

84 For the American landlord, see Holmes, p. 139; Janson, p. 442; 
Hall, F., p. 38; Duncan, II, 320; Weld, I, 114; Neilson, p. 232; 
Alexander, II, 127. 

85 Hall, F., p. 38; Hall, B., I, 121. 

86 For accounts of plentiful food, see Stuart, I, 53-54 ; Hamilton, 
I, 248; Duncan, II, 318-319; Hall, F., p. 38; Finch, p. 13; Weld, I, 
41-42; Ashe, p. 193; Howison, p. 299. 

87 Shirreff, p. 269 ; Lambert, II, 40 ; Holmes, pp. 356-357 ; Priest> 
p. 33. 

88 Hall, B., I, 125-126; Coke, I, 213. 



60 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

James Flint's ''Letters from America" (1818-20) give 
a good description of a typical backwoods tavern. ''A 
small degree of aversion to frivolous detail does not prevent 
me from describing a backwoods tavern. Like its owner, it 
commonly makes a conspicuous figure in its neighborhood. 
It is a log, a frame, or a brick house, frequently with a 
wooden piazza in front. From the top of a tall post, the 
signboard is suspended. On it a Washington, a Mont- 
gomery, a Wayne, a Pike, or a Jackson is usually portrayed, 
in a style that might not be easily deciphered except for 
the name attached. On the top of the house is a small 
bell, which is twice rung before meals. ' ' ^^ 

If shelter in a tavern were not available, the traveller 
could always find a household that would take him in for 
the night. Accommodations were usually worse here than 
at an inn; he was generally obliged to sleep either in a 
room occupied by members of the family or on the dirt 
floor, and he had to content himself with whatever food 
happened to be available. Never was he turned away, 
though the consent to stay was sometimes given grudgingly. 
He must be prepared too to care for his own horse, for 
which sometimes very scanty provision was made.^^ 

In the unsettled regions, board was very cheap — in the 
first decade of the century one might live on two dollars a 
week and for fifty to one hundred dollars a year.^^ The 
best inns charged fifty cents a day for lodging with three 
meals. The American quarter of a dollar was much in 
demand and constituted a convenient price for the average 
single meal by the way. Many times the charge was less. 
Lambert in 1809 paid the large sum of a dollar and a half 
to two dollars a day in Albany at Gregory's Tavern, a 

89 Flint, p. 161. 

90 Weld, I, 114; Palmer, p. 150; Janson, p. 80. 

91 Ashe, p. 193. 



THE EMIGRANT AND THE TRAVELLER 61 

hostelry which Lambert says was ''equal to many London 
hotels. "^2 Ten years later, Fearon paid as much as two 
dollars a day or eighteen dollars a week, exclusive of wine, 
in a New York boarding house.®^ A private fire in one's 
room in the later days was a luxury, as Fidler discovered 
in 1833 when he was charged four dollars weekly for fire 
and candles in a New York house. As he was then paying 
twenty-one dollars a week for two poorly furnished rooms, 
three meals a day, and water to drink, for himself, his wife, 
two children, and a servant, he thought himself very much 
abused.®* 

The reception given the English traveller differed greatly, 
according to circumstances, though it was usually admitted 
that courtesy on the part of the stranger met with a corre- 
sponding willingness to be obliging on the part of the na- 
tive Americans. Even Basil Hall speaks repeatedly of the 
kindness shown his family during their long tour. The 
welcome was always especially cordial if the stranger car- 
ried letters of introduction to an American family; all 
houses in the vicinity were open to him and he was treated 
as a friend of the family. Bradbury says that he travelled 
nearly 10,000 miles in the United States and never received 
the least incivility or affront. *'Let no one here,'^ he says, 
''indulge himself abusing the waiter or hostler at an inn: 
that waiter or hostler is probably a citizen and does not, 
nor can he, conceive that a situation in which he discharges 
a duty to society, not in itself dishonorable, should subject 
him to insult; but this feeling, so far as I have experi- 
enced it, is entirely defensive." ®^ "From my first landing 

82 Lambert, II, 39. 

83 Fearon, p. 7. 

»4 Fidler, p. 16. For prices of board, see also Duncan, II, 242- 
243; Abdy, I, 249; Finch, p. 13; Neilaon, pp. 16-17. 
85 Bradbury, pp. 312-313. 



62 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

in the country till the present," says James Flint, ''I have 
enjoyed intercourse with people of eminence in society and 
have uniformly met with the most polite reception, and on 
many occasions, with such marks of kindness that I can 
never have sufficient opportunities to requite. ' ' ^^ 

There were many complaints of the prevailing reserve or 
"cold civility," especially in the lower classes. This, how- 
ever, did not interfere with the satisfying of the traveller 's 
need. Many strangers propitiated the Americans by tact- 
fully keeping to the native customs as much as possible, 
and by asking no special favors. Tudor tells of his amusing 
struggle with an American landlord on the subject of 
washing in his room, a struggle in which the Englishman 
yielded rather than to go unwashed indefinitely.^^ Candler 
advised his fellow countrymen to make themselves familiar 
with the people of the house where they were stopping ; he 
himself, he said, had been much more so than he would have 
thought of being in England with the family of an inn- 
keeper.^® Undue familiarity and condescension, however, 
never met with success ; the Americans were generally con-^ 
ceded to be excellent judges of manners, no matter what 
their own defects in that respect were. They could de- 
tect audacity and condescension very quickly, but if the 
stranger successfully passed their examination and scru- 
tiny, nothing in the way of hospitality was too good for 
him. 

If for no other reason than sheer weight of opinion, we 
must believe that the prevailing policy among the English 
was ''live and let live." Most of them were broadminded 
enough to take things philosophically as they found them ; 
sometimes because of frank interest in the unusual mode of 
living which they witnessed, more often, perhaps, because 
such a line of action was the better policy and gained them 
86 Flint, pp. 291-292. 97 Tudor, I, 466-467. 98 Candler, pp. 63-64. 



THE EMIGRANT AND THE TRAVELLER 63 

more in the end. At any rate, the prevailing opinion seems 
to have been that if the Americans were treated well, they, 
in turn, would give the English as little to complain of as 
possible.^^ 

99 Hamilton, I, 122-123; Dalton, p. 113; Duncan, II, 320; Holmes, 
p. 139. 



CHAPTER III 

MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 

The American mode of life and the traits of American 
behavior were interesting subjects for speculation on the 
part of the European visitor. In the first place, these were 
different from anything of the sort that the traveller had 
before experienced; then they offered a fascinating prob- 
lem in causes, a problem which the visitor invariably tried 
to solve. The fact that the latter stayed usually at an inn 
or boarding house had both its advantages and its draw- 
backs; such an arrangement favored observation, at the 
same time limiting the range of the observer. Many ac- 
counts of American life were drawn exclusively from that 
form of it seen in public houses. 

The stranger, on his arrival in America, was inevitably 
impressed by two or three salient characteristics of the 
new society. The first in importance and obviousness was 
the spirit of equality which has previously been referred to. 
He could not enter a house of entertainment or a stage 
coach without feeling it and seeing evidence of it. It was 
forced upon him at the public dining table as well as in 
whatever private social life he enjoyed, and in all his inter- 
course with those whom he would naturally have considered 
his inferiors. This spirit could be traced to many sources; 
the most evident one, as it seemed to the traveller, was the 
republican nature of American institutions and govern- 
ment.^ This was not an unmixed blessing to the English 
1 Tudor, II, 395; Abdy, I, 70. 
64 



MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 65 

gentleman; his sufferings at the hands of some one from 
whom he had attempted to exact a menial service left 
sometimes more of an impression than did the contempla- 
tion of the delights of liberty. As he went from place to 
place, he saw other evidences of the existence of this spirit. 
One was the lack of great wealth in the hands of any one 
man or company of men. There were few very rich men 
and correspondingly few beggars. Often this fact in turn 
provoked inquiry, and the primary cause was proved, to 
the traveller's satisfaction at least, to be the absence of the 
law of primogeniture. 2 By the constant division of prop- 
erty among the members of the usually large families, the 
wealth of each was kept moderate and thus equality was 
assured. 

Another general trait that was very noticeable was the 
reserve with which the native American treated strangers. 
Very few of the latter, like Fearon, took this so seriously 
that they allowed it ''to freeze the blood and disgust the 
judgment," ^ but many agreed with Captain Thomas Hamil- 
ton when he said, '*It seemed as if each individual were 
impressed with the conviction that the whole dignity of his 
country were concentrated in his person. ' ' * This reserve 
may have had its source in the more or less unsettled con- 
dition of international affairs until after the effects of the 
War of 1812 had worn off; it was probably stimulated by 
the injustice which the Americans were undoubtedly suf- 
fering at the hands of Englishmen in books and periodicals. 
It melted away rapidly, however, when the stranger 
entered the private house; here he perceived not only an 
almost invariable kindliness and consideration among the 
members of the family, but felt it extended to him as well. 
The general affability which prevailed among native Amer- 
icans was sometimes ascribed to the fact of universal suf- 

2 Hamilton, I, 102. 3 Fearon, p. 11. * Hamilton, I, 26-27. 



66 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

frage and frequent elections. An American never knew 
when he might wish the political support of his neighbors ; 
therefore it behooved him to be agreeable.^ 

This reserve was closely connected in the traveller 's mind 
with another trait, a certain stiffness in social forms, an 
awkwardness and lack of ease which the European felt 
at once in American society.^ This was far removed from 
vulgarity, and revealed itself especially when the Amer- 
icans chose to assume a formality to which they were un- 
accustomed. It was rather to be expected in a new republic, 
where an established code of social law was yet in the 
making, but its cause might lie in many different con- 
siderations. One of these was the lack of a court to stand- 
ardize and unify social observance ; another was the general 
absorption in business on the part of the young men of 
the nation, and the consequent lack of the social graces. 
This intense interest in business and in politics was much 
criticized, and many gratuitous warnings were thrown out 
to this nation of workers who did not know how to play, 
or, at least, how to play gracefully. Lack of interest in 
music and the fine arts, or of the facilities for cultivating 
such an interest, the absence of a travelled class of people 
and of those who had held intercourse generally with the 
more civilized nations of the globe — these were looked 
upon as reasons for the peculiar state of American man- 
ners. Young men were urged to seek experiences in lands 
other than their own America; women were exhorted, too, 
to raise the standards of society by educating themselves. 
"It certainly is not to be wished," says one writer, speak- 
ing of the education of women, **that mathematics or 

5 Flint, p. 292. 

6 Hamilton, I, 270-271; Power, T., I, 241 and II, 346; Birkbeck,. 
M., "Notes on a Journey," p. 107; Vigne, I, 131; Hall, pp. 176-179^ 
Murray, II, 212. 



MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 67 

metaphysics should be discussed in their company; but 
polite literature in its various departments may be intro- 
duced with great propriety. ' ' ^ 

These were some of the general and more frequently no- 
ticed traits of American life. It remains to discuss the 
details of this new state of society as the Englishman saw 
them. 

As the stranger went from place to place, he noted great 
local differences in the tone of society and manners. Pe- 
culiarities of custom and of character were still at this 
period rather well-defined, and the distinctions were very 
marked to the eye of the foreigner. The most obvious 
fact in regard to the attitude of the traveller toward these 
differences in manners is the preference of most strangers 
for the South. It has already been noted that that part 
of the country received almost no consideration from the 
home-seeking emigrant. Perhaps the very limitations that 
kept it in bad repute as a permanent abiding place for the 
settler, made it the more delightful to the temporary visitor. 
Slavery, the great drawback of the South to the mind of 
the emigrant, helped to produce a class of people with 
leisure to attend to the more graceful and less strenuous 
things of life, and to offer unlimited and unsurpassed 
hospitality.^ The manners of the Southerners were con- 
sidered decidedly superior to those of any other people in 
the United States. Perhaps, as one author suggests, this 
was because they were more dependent on social intercourse 
and were thus at greater pains to render it agreeable.^ 
They showed less caution than did the other Americans in 
admitting the stranger to their firesides ; had more wit and 
vivacity, and by education and tradition were more like the 

7 Candler, p. 60. 

sMartineau, I, 201; Davis, J., p. 97. 

9 Hamilton, II, 283. 



68 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

English themselves. Many of them, especially those of the 
older stock, were products of English universities and had 
travelled extensively. Englishmen were impressed too, by 
the fact that Southerners took the intelligence of the travel- 
ler for granted, to a gratifying degree. Captain Hall said 
that in Baltimore it was a comfort to learn how little was 
urged upon him in the way of ' ' sights. " ^° It is not to be 
wondered at, that after a visit to bustling New England, 
the stranger was sometimes satiated ''with institutions, 
jails, schools and hospitals" for which, it is feared, his at- 
tention and his admiration were exacted to a burdensome 
degree. 

Charleston seem.s to have been the most agreeable and 
the most admired of the Southern towns.^^ It was de- 
clared to be the only place in the Southern states which 
realized the English idea of a city. C. A. Murray says that 
in 1835 it was nearly as well known to the civilized world 
as Bristol or Liverpool. The best society there was con- 
sidered much superior to anything else of the kind found 
in America, and was much like that of England in its 
Episcopal religion, its people of English birth, and its re- 
gard for established institutions. Richmond and Baltimore, 
too, had their share as centres of a refined social life, while 
"Washington appeared to the best advantage in the winter ; 
in summer it was practically deserted. ^^ New Orleans was 
looked upon as a gay place where gambling halls and drink- 
ing places abounded. There was much wealth and a great 
deal of social life of a certain kind among the extremely 
cosmopolitan population. The ''Western Gazetteer" said 
that the universe was to be seen in miniature on the levee 
fronting New Orleans, and that the city's docks were 

10 Hall, B., 11, 392-393. 

11 Hamilton, II, 278; Murray, II, 186; Hodgson, I, 48-49. 

12 Hall, B., II, 2; Power, T., I, 240. 



MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 69 

crowded with vessels from every part of the world. The 
mixture of classes, the unhealthy climate, the prevalence of 
vice and lawlessness possessed an unwholesome fascination 
for the stranger. Harriet Martineau estimates that in New 
Orleans in 1834, ''there were more duels than there were 
days in the year — fifteen on one Sunday morning ; in 1835 
there were 102 duels fought between January 1 and the 
end of April, ... all but one of the 102 were for frivolous 
causes. ' ' ^^ 

Georgia and Alabama did not meet with the same ap- 
proval as their neighbors, the Carolinas. The people were 
more impoverished, more rude in their manners, and more 
given to horse- jockeying and to fighting.^* The same was 
true to an even greater degree in some parts of Virginia 
and in Kentucky, and, as a matter of fact, in all the 
Western country except that part which had been brought 
under advanced cultivation.^^ William Wirt in ''The Old 
Bachelor" says that no people were more grossly misrep- 
resented by foreigners than were the Virginians.^® They 
and their Western neighbors, the Kentuckians, were looked 
upon by the English as types parallel to the wildest kind 
of Irishmen, and it is interesting to see how often the 
similarity in open heartedness, rude hospitality, generosity, 
wit, and love of lawless behavior, is emphasized. In the 
Kentucky region, the shops were reported to be filled with 
dirks. ' ' Fights, ' ' says James Flint ( 1 81 8 ) , " are character- 
ized by the most savage ferocity. Gouging or putting out 
the antagonist's eyes by thrusting the thumbs into the 

13 Martineau, H., II, 189. 

14 Hodgson, I, 153; Martineau, I, 221-222; Lambert, II, 260. 

isMelish, II, 182, 205-206; Wilson, C. H., Appendix, p. 110; Twin- 
ing, pp. 89-90; Faux, p. 117; Janson, p. 300; Hamilton, II, 175-176; 
Birkbeck, "Notes on a Journey," pp. 89, 115; Alexander, II, 33. 

16 Wirt, W., "The Old Bachelor," p. 171. 



70 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

sockets, is a part of the modus operandi . . . kicking and 
biting are also means used in combat; I have seen several 
fingers that have been deformed, also several noses and 
ears which have been mutilated by this canine mode of 
fighting. ' ' ^^ Timothy Flint accounted for the great amount 
of duelling that went on in the West by the statement that 
it was the fiery, ambitious characters that emigrated to 
those parts. A chaos of political elements, too, thrown to- 
gether with no immediate prospects of assimilation, offered 
unlimited chances for fistic argument. This lack of as- 
similation should have prevented some of the generalizing 
statements concerning the manners of the people west of 
the Alleghanies. The region was populated by representa- 
tives of a great number of foreign nations, together with 
emigrants from every state in the Union. Each group car- 
ried with it the customs, traditions, and ideals of its old 
life; a great many of these persisted in the new environ- 
ment, as in the case of the habits of the New Englander, 
which were very marked in the West. Emigrants from 
New England carried with them always the interest in the 
church and the school, as well as thrift and commercial 
ability. Shirreff tells of seeking shelter in Illinois with 
a family that had originally come from New England. 
''Everything in the house," he says, ''was particularly 
clean and neat. The manners of the inmates were calm and 
dignified, a smile never playing on their countenances, or 
an emphatic sound proceeding from their lips. ' ' ^^ 

The isolation of the Western settlements did a great deal 
to effect the demoralization of American manners in that 
part of the country. This is partly accounted for by the 
fact that the average Western emigrant was adventurous 

17 Flint, J., p. 138, 

isAbdy, I, 281; ShirreflF, p. 235; Winterbotham, p. 63; Bristed, 
p. 427; Bernard, p. 180. 



MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 71 

by nature and was not dependent on the refinements of 
life for his happiness. In the West, he had very little in- 
centive except his own self-respect to keep him from falling^ 
into a semi-barbarous state. To the lack of restraint of a 
polite society and even of law add his hand-to-mouth ex- 
istence; it is no wonder that his personal pride forsook 
him after a very short time and that he went unwashed 
and unshaven, living with his family in the midst of dirt 
and squalor, doing only what was necessary to get daily 
bread.^^ 

In the large cities of the East, the state of society was 
much the same as in the large towns of Great Britain.^^ 
Thomas Cooper said as early as 1798 that New York was a 
perfect counterpart of Liverpool. Society there was much 
more tinged with European manners than that of any other 
American city, though European luxuries and conveniences 
abounded in all parts of the East. Boston, too, early in 
this period had already achieved an atmosphere charac- 
teristic enough to cause comment.^^ The same was true of 
Philadelphia, which was a very distinctive town. Much 
was said of the neatness of the prim rows on rows of brick 
houses with spotless marble thresholds and steps, of the 
gravity, even sadness, of the demeanor of the inhabitants, 
and the reserve of society manners, which most visitors 
mistook for coldness.^^ 

The rural classes of the North and East were usually 
characterized by gravity and reserve, but there was no hint 
of the simple rusticity that the European was accustomed 
to see in the peasant class of his own country.^^ Inter- 
is Faux, pp. 198, 230, 291. 

20 Cooper, T., pp. 48-49; Tudor, II, 400-401; Vigne, II, 244. 

21 Hodgson, II, 146-147; Hamilton, I, 233. 

22 Hamilton, I, 379-380; Weld, I, 20-21; Hodgson, II, 20; Harris, 
W. T., p. 36; D'Arusmont, p. 35. 23 Lambert, 11, 500. 



72 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

course with thrifty neighbors preserved the Eastern 
farmer's pride in the neatness of his property and of his 
personal appearance. The laboring classes were generally 
admitted to be ''civil and respectful, though not crouch- 
ing. ' ' ^* Harriet Martineau maintained that village man- 
ners in New England were some of the best and sweetest 
in America, and that the only evidences of vulgarity that she 
saw on her travels were displayed by a few of the wealthier 
class.^^ Adaptation had done its work in the East, and 
had already given a distinct character to the people of that 
part of the country. 

It is unfortunate that human beings are so constituted 
that a comparatively insignificant objectionable personal 
trait will influence the relations of one person with another, 
assuming an importance which makes it overshadow all 
other considerations. Many of the smaller details of Amer- 
ican social life and manners acted as dust in the eyes of 
travellers, blinding them to the greater issues. The con- 
stant use of tobacco was, to the Englishman, undoubtedly 
the most objectionable of all the American idiosyncrasies. 
Certainly more is said about it, and the attendant spitting, 
than about any other habit, and many writers agreed that 
it was what detracted most from the refinement of Amer- 
ican manners.^^ There w^as a theory among strangers that 
Americans had taken to incessant smoking to ward off yel- 
low fever. It was also said to be due to the nervous strain, 
the daily wear and tear of American life. Candler said 
that the idea of the soothing tendency and consequent 

24 Candler, p. 61. 

25 Martineau, II, 215-216. 

26 For this habit, see Fowler, p. 217; Lambert, II, 82; Candler, 
p. 67; Martineau, II, 265; Tudor, II, 421; Coke, I, 154; Moore, 
Thomas, "Epistle to Thomas Hume, Esq."; Kendall, I, 317; Sut- 
cliflfe, p. 88. 



MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 73 

utility of smoking in concentrating thought, was urged in 
its favor, but he goes on to say, ''The most active minds 
need not its assistance. Bonaparte never smoked." Robert 
Sutcliife, a visiting Quaker, was horrified to see even chil- 
dren of five and six going about smoking ' ' segars, ' ' though 
it must be admitted that he is almost the only traveller who 
notes the corruption prevailing at such an early age. There 
were plenty of observers, however, to comment on the fact 
that young men went about from morning till night with 
cigars in their mouths ''when in the house, and not in- 
frequently when walking the street. A box full is con- 
stantly carried in the coat pocket and handed occasionally 
to a friend, as familiarly as our dashing youths take out 
their gold 'box and offer a pinch of snuff." " Writers who 
refuted Mrs. Trollope's most sweeping denunciations of 
American life and exposed her charges as ridiculous, still 
admitted that this great fault in American manners was too 
noticeable to be ignored. Miss Martineau despaired of con- 
vincing her hosts of the seriousness of the situation. "Of 
the tobacco and its consequences," she says, "I will say 
nothing but that the practice is at too bad a pass to leave 
hope that anything that could be said in books would work 
a cure. If the floors of boarding houses, and the decks of 
steamboats and the carpets of the Capitol do not sicken the 
Americans into a reform; if the warnings of physicians 
are of no avail, what remains to be said ? " ^^ It was in- 
deed only too well known that the floor of the Senate 
Chamber in Washington was not exempt, nor the pews in 
any of the churches, though we find some Americans re- 
fusing to admit that this disgusting habit prevailed, and 
professing to be very much surprised when their attention 
was called to it. Some writers attempted to justify it by 
pointing out that the habit existed in other lands as welL 
27 Lambert, II, 100. 28 Martineau, II, 200. 



74 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

Boardman and Fowler noted that it did not extend to the 
better class of educated people, but they are the only travel- 
lers who at all qualify their condemnation.^^ 

In conjunction with this criticism of the use of tobacco, 
we almost always find a denunciation of the habit of con- 
stant drinking. It was a source of wonder to the stranger 
that in spite of the dram-drinking that went on at all 
times and in all places, there was almost no sign of real 
drunkenness.^^ In the few cases that were observed, the 
culprit was quite likely to be a foreigner, or sometimes a 
degenerate Indian. James Stuart testified that in three 
years he did not see a dozen intoxicated men in America.^^ 
Hodgson did not see six, and was therefore inclined to 
believe that the sin of intoxication prevailed less extensively 
in America than in England.^^ The habit of constant 
*Hippling" extended to children, if we are to believe 
William Cobbett, who says that even little boys at and 
under twelve years of age went into stores constantly and 
** tipped off their drams. "^^ Janson, too, very often saw 
** wealthy boys intoxicated, shouting and swearing in the 
public streets. ' ' ^* 

The habit of constant *' tippling" was ascribed to the 
effects of the extreme heat, which forbade the use of ice 
water without the addition of spirituous liquors. Faux 
tells in his ** Journal" of some Englishmen who fell dead 
at the city fountains in Washington in consequence of 

29 Hodgson, II, 36-37 (note); Tudor, II, 422; Candler, pp. 58-59; 
Boardman, p. 177; Fowler, p. 217; ShirreflF, pp. 275-276; Mrs. 
Trollope, I, 19-20. 

30 Finch, J., p. 13; Fearon, p. 29; Flint, J., p. 60; Neilson, p. 67; 
Melish, II, 51; Winterbotham, p. 71. 

31 Stuart, II, 311. 

32 Hodgson, II, 249-250. 

33 Cobbett, p. 212. 

34 Janson, pp. 297-299. 



MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 75 

drinking too much cold water. **To avoid this danger," 
he advises, ''it is only necessary to drink a wine glass half 
full of brandy first and a pint of water immediately after. 
Thirst is thus safely quenched with much less water than 
would be necessary without the spirits. ' ' ^^ The extreme 
heat was by no means the only inducement to much drink- 
ing; another consideration which constantly tempted the 
American was the ease with which liquor was obtained, 
and its great cheapness. The habit was accounted for also 
by tracing it back to a very practical and indisputable 
source, the great amount of salt food that the native Amer- 
ican consumed. 

We have mentioned the ease with which liquor was ob- 
tained. The average American, however, was not convivial 
in his habits, and was much absorbed in business; he did 
not linger, therefore, over his glass at the table, though 
brandy bottles figured largely at public and private meals, 
and guests helped themselves as they wished.^^ Outside 
the larger towns, the common beverage was spirits and 
water, taken without sugar, or *' cyder" which was always 
available in the more settled regions where apple-trees had 
a chance to grow. Large quantities of molasses imported 
to New England in trade with the West Indies furnished 
plenty of rum. In parts of the country where the chief 
agricultural product was grain, the spirit used ^vas dis- 
tilled from it, usually from rye. In the South, peach and 
apple brandy, made usually at the private still of the 
plantation owner, warmed the heart of the traveller. Much 
was said about the amount of conviviality in the South 

35 Faux, pp. 129-130. See, also, Melish, II, 51; Duncan, II, 322- 
323; Neilson, p. 67; Winterbotham, p. 71; Fearon, p. 29; Stuart, 
II, 311. 

36 Hamilton, I, 42-43; Candler, p. 80; Neilson, p. 69; Melish, II, 
51; Abdy, II, 242; Fearon, p. 28. 



76 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

and the fondness of the Southern gentlemen for liquor. 
Basil Hall says that in Virginia, during a journey of 
seventeen hours, the stage stopped at ten differeait houses, 
and at each place his travelling companions alighted to 
get a glass of "mint julep," yet they were not tipsy except 
for a slight inarticulateness of speech and earnestness in 
argument.^'' 

''Spirit shops" were numerous everywhere, especially in 
the large cities. These were sometimes called ''grog 
shops, ' ' the latter name designating the small grocers ' and 
chandlers' shops which sold liquor as well as other staples. 
Many of these were situated on the corners of the streets, 
and were reputed to be kept chiefly by Irishmen. Fearon 
said that in 1818 there were 1,500 spirit shops in New York 
City, and that he was convinced that the quantity of malt 
liquors and spirits drunk by the inhabitants of New York 
much exceeded the amount consumed by the same number 
of English population. He ascribed the cause to the for- 
eign birth of many of the inhabitants who brought habits of 
drinking from their European homes and now were better 
paid and able to indulge those tastes.^^ 

It must not be imagined that the Americans themselves 
were blind to this national fault. Violent campaigns were 
carried on against it by the prototype of the modern pro- 
hibition movement, and English travellers commented fre- 
quently on the change in the public conscience that was 
gradually becoming noticeable, particularly in the last ten 
years of this period. ^^ One writer attended a temperance 
lecture at an agricultural meeting in Stockbridge, Massa- 
chusetts, in 1834. The native orator spoke bitterly against 
dram-drinking, estimating that thirty hogsheads of spirits 

37 Hall, B., Ill, 71. 

38 Fearon, p. 289. 

39 Coke, I, 33; Tudor, II, 422; Fowler, p. 115; Vigne, I, 282-283. 



MANNERS AND CTSTOMS 77 

of 150 gallons each were consumed annuallv in that one 
town. This meant an allowance of two and a half gallons 
per capita, and represented an outlay for liquor of $2,250.^^ 
The change in manners in the East was commonly ascribed 
to the injfluence of these organizations, which both natives 
and foreigners rejoiced to see operating, however much they 
objected to total abstinence.^^ 

He who is at all familiar with the travel literature of the 
time will remember in Mrs. TroUope's book the illustration 
"Ancient and Modern Republics," in which the modern 
type of republican, an American, is depicted sitting, with 
his hat at a rakish angle, before a table upon which his 
heels are reposing. In his limp hand he holds a glass from 
which he has evidently just drained the "spirits.'' On the 
wall beside him is a conspicuous advertisement of "Cele- 
brated Chewing Tobacco." It is clear that many foreign 
visitors considered that attitude peculiarly American, per- 
haps because much of the time of so many travellers was 
spent in the taverns and other public places. "It was quite 
common," we are told, "even in company to lean back in 
the chair so as to let it stand on its hind legs, and when in 
this position near a fire, they will sometimes place their feet 
against the mantelpiece. Imagine a man sitting in this 
manner with a cigar in his mouth and you have a complete 
picture of American independence."^- At an inn in cen- 
tral New York, in 1S24, Howison was astonished to see that 
each man occupied three or four chairs. "He sat upon 
one, laid his legs upon another, whirled around a third, 
and perhaps chewed the paint from the back of the 
fourth. ' ' ^2 This universal habit of lounging extended even 

*o Hall, B., II, 82. 

*i See, for instance, Alexander, II, 35. 

•42 Candler, pp. 56-57: also Holmes, p. 342; Tudor, II, 28. 

43 Howison, p. 306. 



78 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

to the Supreme Court and the state legislatures, to say noth- 
ing of the church. Nor were women exempt from the in- 
dictment, if we are to believe ''The American Chesterfield," 
a curious little native publication which did its best to 
reform manners."** 

In many other details of life were the Americans self- 
convicted in points of etiquette which must have jarred 
upon the sensibilities of the more refined stranger. It was 
difficult for the latter, for instance, to see a native American 
reaching across the table for his food, or using his own 
knife and fork to convey something to his plate, without 
venturing at least a mild remonstrance. Another habit 
which was not understood was that of yawning comfortably 
in the face of one's vis-d-vis in polite society. Abdy tells 
of an amusing experience in a Virginia stagecoach; an 
American opposite him yawned constantly; the narrator, 
supposing that the stranger was bored with the conversa- 
tion, took the hint and desisted from talking. Further 
experience convinced him, however, that this expansion of 
the jaws was a national trait and that one could "yawn 
freely in the face of another person in America without 
committing a breach of good manners. ' ' *^ 

We may expect to find in the tone of American inter- 
change of ideas at this time a revelation of the enthusiasms 
of this hustling young democracy. Of conversation as a 
fine art, there was almost a total ignorance. There was no 
leisure class to cultivate it and no body of very wealthy 
people to stimulate interest in things not strictly utilitarian. 
Life was too full of politics, of business, of all the respon- 
sibilities incidental to a new country, to offer a place for 
less useful interests. One's vocabulary remained, or be- 
came, limited; a fact very noticeable to the Englishman 

44 See Hall, B., II, 406-408. 

45 Abdy, II, 272-273. 



MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 79 

was that very few Americans read anything but the news- 
paper. 

There seems to have been a conscious effort to avoid in 
general conversation any subject the discussion of which 
would stamp one as a pedant, or bore the rest of the com- 
pany. This was more generally noticed to be true of the 
men than of the women; the latter have recorded against 
them statements ridiculous for pedantry. Miss Martineau 
tells of her encounters with some New England middle- 
aged women with ''blue stocking" propensities. *'A lady 
asked me many questions about my emotions at Niagara. 
. . . 'Did you not?' was her last inquiry, 'long to throw 
yourself down and mingle with your mother earth?' . . . 
Another asked me whether I did not think the sea might in- 
spire vast and singular ideas. Another, an instructress of 
youth, in examining my ear-trumpet, wanted to know 
whether its length made any difference in its efficiency. On 
my answering 'None at all.' ... '0, certainly not,' said 
she, very deliberately, 'for sound, being a material sub- 
stance, can only be overcome by a superior force.' The 
mistakes of unconscious ignorance should be passed over 
with a silent smile; but affectation should be exposed as a 
service to young society. ' ' ^^ 

As the Americans were not of a race of philosophers, and 
as their religious opinions were pretty well fixed and ad- 
mitted of very little discussion, and because they had no 
interest in art and letters, their conversations dealt with 
local interests or with the all-absorbing subject of politics. 
Their manner of expression seemed to Englishmen to be 
simple and straightforward. One writer remarks, "Like a 
gently flowing limpid brook, their conversation has no tur- 
bulence, but shows ever j1:hing at the bottom at a glance. ' ' *^ 
There was no bright and sparkling display of repartee, 

46 Martineau, II, 206-208. 47 Candler, p. 92. 



80 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

though the American was not without a certain native wit 
which was always thought by the Englishman to be un- 
consciously epigrammatic — one wonders sometimes how 
much of it was unconscious.*® The speech generally gave 
the impression of being grave and earnest, and was devoted 
to the matter in hand. It was remarked that the Americans 
were habitually serious and silent, ''even beyond English 
taciturnity," and to make them talk there was needed the 
stimulus of politics or liquor. Especially did brevity char- 
acterize the speech of the people in the Western country. 
They developed a laconic type of conversation that was so 
abbreviated that it was not always clear.*^ On the other 
hand, the Easterner, and especially the New Englander, 
became known for his "prosy but rich and droll" conversa- 
tion. It was said that he "went back as near to the Deluge 
as the subject would admit and forward to the millennium, 
taking care to omit nothing of consequence in the inter- 
val." ^"^ Because of the narrowness of their range, the 
Americans were well-informed on what they talked about. 
Sometimes the absolute conviction and accuracy with which 
they were able to speak was disconcerting to an English- 
man in an argument. For instance, Fearon had occasion to 
deplore the diffusion of knowledge in regard to the details 
of the War of 1812. His criticism extended even to the 
ladies, with whom, he ironically says, he could not con- 
verse without having his ears offended with the "refined 
and intellectual names of Commodore Hull, Captain Law- 
rence, and General Jackson." ^^ 

The tone of the American voice was agreed to be very 

48 D'Arusmont, p. 87; Martineau, II, 206; Hamilton, II, 179. 

49 Murray, I, 80; Hall, F., p. 272; Holmes, p. 362; Flint, pp. 288- 
289. 

50 Martineau, II, 204-205; Davis, J., p. 70. 

51 Fearon, p. 371; D'Arusmont, p. 87. 



MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 81 

distinctivt , though few strangers attempted to show in what 
respects it was so considered. Usually it was mentioned 
with condeimation, especially when the particular example 
under discuLUon was that of a New England woman. Her 
voice was described as being *' between a whine and a 
twang, ' ' and was attributed to the general ill-health among 
women. Occasionally we find a hint of appreciation of the 
Southern dialect, which struck the English ear very pleas- 
antly.^2 

A quality of American conversation most impressive to 
the Englishman was its serupulous moral purity.^^ So 
great was the insistence upon this quality that more than 
one unsuspecting stranger found himself in a state of 
chagrin after making some remark which he considered 
perfectly innocent, but w^hich met with surprised glances 
from his hearers. Candler says that while Walter Scott's 
poems would not be considered exceptionable in an English 
circle, there were several passages in "Marmion" and ''The 
Lady of the Lake" which it would be unadvisable to read 
to American ladies. He himself, when reading aloud to a 
mixed audience, always omitted these. Many looked upon 
this as false delicacy and believed that American women 
would rise to a higher position of influence if they were 
not so scrupulously protected from everji;hing that savored 
of evil. No one, however, seems to have regretted the fact 
that, because of this attitude, the conversation in public 
conveyances was absolutely unobjectionable, just as the be- 
havior was usually decent and restrained. In all public 
places the general tone of the conversation was reported to 
be good-humored and civil, and to take rather for granted 
an identity of interest and intelligence. 

52 On the American voice, see Murray, C. A., II, 214; Hodgson, 
II, 27; De Roos, p. 31; Martineau, II, 200. 

63 Candler, pp. 100, 101, 482; Boardman, p. 176. 



82 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

Many statements, however, testify to the prev*' Jing pro- 
fanity in American speech.^ Even children were not 
exonerated, nor were the educated classes of, adults ex- 
cepted. This habit was particularly notice .ble in the 
Western region. James Flint, whose interest. lay chiefly in 
that locality, said that in his short stay in .imerica he had 
heard twice as much profanity as during the whole period 
of his life in England. Virginians Wcjre evidently much 
given to swearing. They were compared to the Irish in 
that respect, just as the Kentuckians were said to resemble 
the latter in their love for strong drink. 

Another charge brought against Americans was in- 
quisitiveness.^^ Sometimes the traveller regarded this trait 
with indulgence, as he found that the natives were as 
willing to answer questions as to ask them, and that the 
stranger came off the gainer in that exchange. Sometimes 
he indulged his sense of humor and gave brief and vague 
replies to induce more questions, which v/ere usually forth- 
coming. More often he resented the interference in his 
affairs and objected to the ''routine of interrogations'' 
which he must go through before his wants were satisfied. 
This failing does not seem to have been limited to one sec- 
tion of the country. We find mention of the tradition of it 
in New England, in the South, and in the West, though 
some authors confessed that they had not experienced it. 
Even if questions were not asked, a frank and eager curi- 
osity in the affairs of strangers was betrayed. Perhaps it 
arose from a worthy desire for information — undoubtedly 

54 See, on American profanity, Holmes, pp. 362, 365 ; Hodgson, 
II, 259; Candler, p. 453; Murray, I, 158; Flint, p. 167; Melish, 
II, 208. 

55 For inquisitiveness, see Flint, p. 168; Weld, I, 234-235; Woods, 
p. 195; Hamilton, I, 209; Janson, pp. 196-197; Bradbury, Appendix, 
p. 313; De Roos, p. 63; Hodgson, II, 32-35; Candler, p. 483; Palmer, 
p. 178; Hall, F., pp. 36-37; Hamilton, I, 119-120; Shirreff, p. 275. 



MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 83 

it did in many cases; but it was a source of annoyance to 
the stranger who, while carrying on a private conversation, 
sometimes found himself surrounded by a group of people, 
all obviously listening intently and making suggestions or 
comments as the spirit moved them. 

It has been remarked that occasionally the English 
traveller was horrified to see a small boy smoking or drink- 
ing in the public-houses. This precocity was extended to 
other phases of life as well, and was one of the great mis- 
takes in American policy, to the mind of the observer.^^ 
Because of the early marriages and the abundance of sub- 
sistence in the new republic, children played a very impor- 
tant economic part there, and represented a large propor- 
tion of the population. They were not relegated to the 
background, as in Europe, but were given a place, and that 
a prominent one, in the daily family life. A close connec- 
tion was made by the stranger between the republican form 
of government and the unlimited liberty which was allowed 
the younger generation. The latter had a part in the 
family councils; they expressed their opinions freely and 
did not hesitate to contradict their elders. They were per- 
fectly unabashed in conversation, having been introduced 
freely to all strangers. They were rarely punished at home, 
and strict discipline was not tolerated in the schools. By 
the conditions of life, independence was created in the 
child. Duncan speaks of the intelligence of American chil- 
dren and of their sense of responsibility. They learned to 
do things for themselves, and their independence was re- 
flected in their characters. They matured very early; the 
boy quickly assumed the ''gait, attire, and attitude of a 
man''; the girl ended her fragmentary and desultory edu- 
cation at an early age and was usually married before 

56 Faux, pp. 130-131, also p. 164; D'Arusmont, p. 310; Shirreff, 
p. 51; Abdy, I, 70-73, 217; Martineau, II, 271; Flint, pp. 170-171. 



84 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

reaching the age of twenty. Shirreff gives several instances 
of juvenile politeness that he has experienced, but he is al- 
most the only English traveller who has a good word for 
these sophisticated little beings who were notoriously given 
the centre of the stage and who often abused the privilege 
as a consequence. It was feared that respect for elders or 
for any other form of authority would soon be eliminated 
entirely from American life. Many of the defects in the 
native character were traced to this faulty education of 
the youth. On the other hand, lack of culture in the par- 
ents produced a corresponding disdain for accomplishments 
in the child. As he could not be punished in school, he 
learned to regard his teacher as an inferior and to disregard 
all law and order. The foreigner saw in this system of 
child-rearing a great menace to the future peace and hap- 
piness of the nation. 

Days which were celebrated as legal holidays in America 
were always times full of interest to the foreign stranger, 
for he had then an opportunity to see the people in gala 
mood and to witness some of their distinctive customs. The 
great day was of course the Fourth of July.^^ This was 
observed at this time much as it was till a few years ago 
when the ''safe and sane Fourth" began to be advocated. 
The celebration was remarked to be similar to that of the 
English King's birthday. It began before sunrise, and 
carried with it the usual hubbub of fire-crackers, cannon, 
and band music. There w^ere parades, patriotic speeches, 
and banquets. Sometimes the traveller ended the day at 
the theatre, where he saw a patriotic play and listened to 
American airs played by an orchestra accompanied in its 

67 For Fourth of July celebrations, see Duncan, I, 47 ; Neilson, 
p. 214; Latrobe, II, 77; Tudor, I, 117-121; Finch, pp. 50-51; Melish, 
I, 42-43; Weld, I, 272-273; Howison, pp. 332-333; Coke, I, 128-129; 
Wilson, p. 27. 



MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 85 

efforts by the beating of time from hundreds of feet. For- 
tunate, indeed, was he if his temper was not ruffled several 
times during the day, and if he was allowed to forget that 
the United States had once been English colonies and that 
they had thrown off a tyrannical yoke — references to which 
fact provoked a patriotic demonstration from all loyal 
Americans. Closely connected with this nation-wide cele- 
bration, both in time and significance, was the local interest 
in July 5th in New York. It commemorated the emancipa- 
tion of all slaves in New York State, and was the particu- 
lar holiday of all people of color, many of whom, according 
to Boardman, met with degrading treatment on this oc- 
casion.^^ 

There is very little mention of an American Christmas 
and only casual notice of Thanksgiving. The English 
Christmas celebration was apparently almost unknown; 
most of the shops were open during the day, and only the 
Episcopalians seem to have gone to church.^^ As for 
Thanksgiving Day, very little notice seems to have been 
taken of it, probably because the observance of it had not 
yet spread beyond the limits of New England. One author 
observes that the Americans were too much engrossed with 
money-getting to take time to show their gratitude for 
their mercies.^** 

The social place of the Christmas jollification was largely 
taken by the observance of New Year's Day.^^ There are 
many accounts of the celebration of this festival. It was 
the day when ladies held their annual levee and all male 

58 Boardman, pp. 309-310; also Duncan, I, 59-60. 

59 Lambert, II, 108-109; Boardman, p. 331; Birkbeck, "Letters 
from Illinois," p. 24; Duncan, II, 278; Kendall, I, 287. 

60 Boardman, p. 330. 

61 For best descriptions of celebrations of New Year's Day, see 
Boardman, pp. 332-333; Lambert, II, 111; Hodgson, II, 113; Alex- 
ander, II, 316; Stuart, I, 273. 



86 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

acquaintances and friends were expected to call. Nothing 
but a very serious reason was supposed to prevent this 
annual visit. Long-standing coolnesses were often atoned 
for in this way. Clergymen shared with the ladies the 
privilege of staying at home and receiving callers. Men 
whose acquaintance was numerous could of course spend 
very little time at each place; refreshments were served, 
of which they were supposed to partake, and the end of 
the day found more than one American gentleman in a 
befuddled condition of mind. Bakeshops served free cakes 
on this day, and bars offered free liquor to anyone who 
was inclined to accept their hospitality. The usual re- 
straint was absent, and the foreigner probably saw the 
Americans more social, more easy in manners than on any 
other day in the year. 

The traveller who wintered in the North or East wit- 
nessed an American custom which occasioned him great 
pleasure. This was the sleighing party, to which Ameri- 
cans were much addicted, and which the foreigner, if he 
had the opportunity, enjoyed fully. ^^ Priest says that it 
was the chief amusement in winter, and that he never heard 
a woman speak of it but with rapture. North of Pennsyl- 
vania, said the traveller, this pleasure could usually be 
indulged in all winter, but farther south, the snow-fall was 
of such short duration that the most had to be made of 
every moment. Taverns were open all night for the recep- 
tion of these parties of young men and women, who rode 
for miles around, stopping at every inn to have a dance. 
Sometimes a fiddler went with them in the sleigh, Hodg- 
son in 1821 tells of a merry crowd that he joined to go to 
a country party ten miles out of New York City. He thus 

62 Lambert, II, 100-101; Duncan, II, 242: Priest, pp. 46-48; Fincli, 
p. 33; Boardman, p. 339; Alexander, II, 316; Harris, p. 75; Neilson, 
pp. 132-133; Hodgson, II, 110-112: 



MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 87 

describes Broadway during the sleighing season : *' Broad- 
way exhibits the gayest scene you can conceive. Painted 
sleighs, with scarlet cloth and buffalo skins, are dashing 
along in all directions at a prodigious speed; some with 
two horses abreast ; others with four in hand. Every body 
seems to make the most of the snow while it lasts, and 
night does not put an end to the festivity. The horses have 
a string of bells round ; and in these fine moonlight nights I 
hear them dashing away long after midnight." 

Quite the opposite of this scene of merry-making was 
that of the American funeral, which deserves mention be- 
cause of the universal comment it provoked.^^ It was the 
subject of much criticism. The English noticed with horror 
the practice of disposing of the dead within twenty-four 
hours, as well as the general air of indifference which 
seemed to them to mark the observance of the last rites. 
They complained of the practice of exhibiting the body to 
friends, and of having graveyards in the heart of the town, 
objecting to them as both unhealthful and depressing. 
Funerals were usually attended by walking processions, 
the friends of the deceased gathering in the home, the 
acquaintances joining them outside on the way to the grave. 
Notices of deaths were published in the papers together 
with a general invitation to friends to be present at the 
burial. Quakers and Free Masons always enjoyed the 
honor of having the longest funeral trains. Duncan tells 
of the funeral of a child which he witnessed. There were 
no men present except the father of the deceased. Almost 
everyone wore white and the mahogany coffin *'was carried 
by white ribhands by four females." He ascribed this 
peculiar custom to the Methodists only.^* The motley garb 

63 Lambert, II, 88-89; Power, II, 19; Duncan, II, 213; Blane, p. 
12; Lambert, II, 181; Stuart, I, 133; Neilson, p. 261; Palmer, p. 
284. 64 Duncan, II, 314, also I, 104. 



88 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

worn at funerals was often the cause of comment from 
strangers. There was very little mourning worn; large 
linen scarfs were provided for the clergyman, for the physi- 
cian of the deceased, and for a few intimate friends who 
acted as pall-bearers. These were worn like a miFitary 
belt, sloping across the body.^^ 

The Americans were charged with indifference to this 
sad occasion and were much criticised on this score. Not 
only was little mourning worn, but it was intimated that 
very few evidences of grief were seen. Friends walked non- 
chalantly to the grave, often smoking a cigar en route. In 
short, the whole occasion as revealed by the Englishman 
lacked dignity and proper feeling, but at least, as even 
Fearon admitted, was free from evidences of hypocrisy.^® 

The importance of woman obviously reveals itself to the 
greatest degree in a newly-settled country. She is under 
such circumstances not only the creator of future popula- 
tion, but represents as well the influence which retards the 
downward trend in manners and morals which is likely to 
reveal itself gradually in isolated communities. The ques- 
tion of the status of American women in the period from 
1785 to 1835 enjoys the rather unusual distinction oi being 
one of the few questions on which Englishmen were agreed. 
They might differ in regard to almost any other phase of 
American life, but the position of woman was manifest, 
and the handwriting on the wall was never cryptic. The 
general facts in regard to her were the same, whether she 
represented the type of a potential ''blue stocking" in New 
England, or a divinity south of the Delaware, or a pioneer 
helpmeet in the new West. 

65Boardman, p. 66; Stuart, I, 134; Duncan, II, 311-314; Weston, 
pp. 70, 133-136. 
66 Fearon, p. 137. 



MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 89 

The traveller found few astonishingly beautiful women 
among American types.^^ There was much prettiness, but 
the consensus of opinion was that there was little actual 
beauty of the type most admired by the Englishman. *'I 
am speaking of the American ladies in general," says one 
writer, ''when I remark that it is no injustice to them to 
maintain that where you will see twenty pretty girls, you 
will not see one really handsome woman. " ^^ It is a curious 
coincidence that several writers say that the prettiest 
women in America were seen in Baltimore.^^ The typical 
young woman seemed rather pale to eyes accustomed to 
look upon English roses. She did not look particularly 
healthy, nor did her delicate color survive her first years 
of girlhood. At the age of twenty-one or twenty-two, the 
American woman was destitute of bloom ; at thirty, she was 
beginning to get old and to look forward to the future 
''when her reign of triumph will be vicariously restored in 
the person of her daughter. ' ' ^^ 

The gait was supposed to be distinctive but not particu- 
larly graceful. American girls did not stride like English- 
women nor did they affect the mincing steps of a French 
belle, but they swung their arms too much to be quite ap- 
proved by the observer. '^^ 

Many travellers speak of the delicate features, well- 
turned and classic in their purity.^ ^ The figure was almost 
invariably well-formed and slight — too slight to win the 

67 D'Arusmont, p. 24; Vigne, I, 130, also II, 244. 
€8 Lambert, II, 323. 

69 Mrs. Trollope, I, 293; Coke, I, 75; Vigne, I, 130. 

70 For fading of American women, see Lambert, II, 92; Coke, I, 
75; Abdy, I, 73; Hamilton, I, 32; Ferrall, p. 84; Candler, p. 69; 
Mrs. Trollope, I, 165; Murray, II, 213-214; Palmer, p. 152; Howi- 
son, p. 328. 

71 Mrs. Trollope, II, 135; Hamilton, I, 33; Candler, p. 71. 
72 Murray, II, 213-214; Hamilton, I, 32-33. 



90 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

good opinion of some fastidious critics," — and if the girl in 
question were from the city, displayed to advantage the 
French styles to which the Americans were most partial/* 
A criticism which one encounters frequently is the reproach 
of poor teeth among American women.'^^ The cause of this 
condition was much argued; it was usually attributed to 
the hot food and to the sweets and preserves in which the 
Americans indulged to a startling degree. The use of 
salted food, too, bore its share of the blame. Many times 
we see a flat denial of this condition among women, and 
sometimes a statement to the effect that all Americans suf- 
fered from the same disability. Lambert says that the 
Americans themselves admitted that they were subject to a 
premature loss of teeth, and that the cause had even been 
discussed in the papers read before the American Philo- 
sophical Society. He believed that, as a whole, women were 
more likely to be exempt than were men. 

The surmises made in regard to the early fading of 
American women, and the precarious state of their health, 
are extremely interesting to read.'^^ Much of this physical 
delicacy was attributed to the sudden changes of climate, 
which ' * created a series of nervous complaints, consumption 
and debility, which in the states along the Atlantic carry 
off one-third of the population in the prime of life." The 
heat of the American summer was also supposed to rob 

73 Boardman, p. 13; Fowler, p. 212; Candler, p. 69; Hamilton, 

I, 32; Mrs. Trollope, II, 135; Lambert, II, 92. 

74 For fondness for French styles, see Fearon, p. 172; Hodgson, 

II, 109; Boardman, p. 13; Holmes, p. 348; Murray, I, 55; Candler, 
p. 69; Howison, p. 328; Hall, B., I, 156. 

75Neilson, p. 308; Palmer, p. 152; Weld, I, 22-23; Lambert, II, 
94; Hamilton, I, 33. 

76 Stuart, I, 131; Lambert, II, 82-83, 92; Fearon, p. 169; D'Arus- 
mont, p. 314; Martineau, II, 264; Howison, p. 328; Alexander, II, 
299. 



MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 91 

the fair cheeks of their bloom. Too much use of stoves and 
a very inadequate amount of exercise played their part in 
this breaking-down process. Too much animal food in the 
diet; in fact, too great a variety of all sorts of food was 
urged as a reason for ill-health, and American women were 
admonished that the fashionable malady, dyspepsia, could 
be traced to the late suppers which they enjoyed so much. 
The charge of the lack of exercise was brought chiefly 
against the people of the Southern states, where the heat 
of the climate encouraged the tendency to have everything 
done for one by slaves. Here there existed the greatest 
apathy in regard to health, and women refused to be aware 
of the seriousness of the question.'^^ 

Then, too, the style of women 's dress, particularly in the 
cities, was not conducive to health and vigor. Foreigners 
never ceased to be astonished at the light and flimsy attire 
which American women donned in winter. '^^ The thin- 
nest of gowns, satin shoes, and silk stockings were to be 
seen on the promenades of all the cities, even in the coldest 
weather, and provoked as much comment as they do today. 
This style of dress was held responsible for the large pro- 
portion of young women who succumbed to consumption, 
and for the general air of fragility which impressed the 
stranger. Duncan estimated that there were more than 
500 deaths in New York in one year (about 1818), from 
consumption alone, and that the majority of these victims 
were young w^omen. He describes the progress of a typical 
city girl proceeding to church through the snow, which pene- 
trated her thin satin shoes. A black girl behind her car- 
ried a foot warmer at which the young lady toasted her 

77 Candler, pp. 67-68; Martineau, II, chap. II, sect. III. 
78Neilsoii, p. 23; Alexander, II, 296; Hodgson, II, 109; Mrs. 
Trollope, n, 135. 



92 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

toes during the service, after which she proceeded home- 
ward in the same careless fashion/^ 

The accomplishments of the American girl were the 
natural result of the system of education by which she was 
reared. Very few observers would, I think, have agreed 
with Welby in his denunciation of the lack of education in 
useful female employments, of the frivolity and the gen- 
eral vacuity of mind which he says w^ere the result of such 
a system.*"^ Many, however, believed that the American 
woman could, and should, have a greater mental cultivation. 
Miss Martineau, as might be expected, made a special plea 
for more interests and more responsibilities of a public 
nature.^^ Some people believed that the esteem in which 
women were held, the fact that they bore ''a high rate in 
the American market," and were scarce in proportion to 
the demand, acted as a deterrent to their best and most 
complete mental development; they were not obliged to 
resort to accomplishments to captivate.^^ Their education 
was undoubtedly incomplete; they attended a school or 
academy until they reached the age of twelve or fourteen, 
when their "book-learning" was generally conceded to b^ 
sufficient. Some few more fortunate ones protracted the 
process to include a smattering of French and a knowledge 
of music and dancing.^^ A girl was not encouraged, at 
any rate outside of New England, to study the classics or 
to penetrate into the mysteries of higher mathematics or 
science. This policy had the two-fold purpose of protecting 
the young mind from the corruption of the subject-matter 
of the classics, and of preventing anything like a pedantic 

79 Duncan, II, 291-292. 

80 Welby, p. 337. 

81 Martineau, II, 226 ff. 

82 See, for instance, Hall, F., p. 180. 

«3 Candler, p. 71; Murray, II, 214-215; Vigne, II, 243-244. 



MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 93 

and unbecoming display of learning. There were indeed 
''few occasions for a woman to make use of classical at- 
tainments in company. ' ' ^* 

American women were known to be voracious readers, 
particularly of novels.®^ It is suggested that this fact may 
account for the general desire manifested by the young 
girls to be ethereal and delicate. The harmful effects of 
such reading were emphasized again and again both in 
foreign and in native literature. The annuals abounded in 
disquisitions on the subject, urging the moral and intel- 
lectual degradation which was sure to result from this 
wasteful occupation. A great many married women espe- 
cially, who lived out their existence in boarding houses, 
were much given to reading, as well as to religious and 
social activity as an outlet for their energies.^^ Indeed, the 
feminine half of society was sometimes conceded to be much 
better educated than the masculine, owing to the absorption 
of the latter in business, and the resulting dearth of time 
to improve one's self intellectually. 

The New England girls enjoyed the distinction of being 
considered the best educated of American women, not only 
in books but in domestic accomplishments as well. Espe- 
cially was the former true of Boston women; they were 
thought to know more of literature and music than did 
their sisters of other localities. Hamilton says that New 
York women charged them with being dowdyish in dress, 
but that he considered their taste purer than that of their 
accusers.^^ Outside of New England, it must be admitted, 
travellers considered the average woman deficient in the 
management of household concerns, that is, in comparison 

8* Candler, p. 73. 

85 Fowler, p. 215; Candler, pp. 71-72. 

86 Martineau, II, 245 flf. 

87 Hamilton, I, 235. 



94 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

with Englishwomen. This also was attributed to the inter- 
est of men in business and their consequent neglect of 
women, who sought entertainment in shopping, dress, and 
social frivolity.^^ 

Many a stranger, travelling under new conditions and 
seeking shelter at a public or private house, was repelled 
by the coolness and apparent indifference of the Tubmen of 
the family.*^ Francis Hall called it ''sulkiness" and ac- 
cused American women of having water instead of blood in 
their veins,®^ but most strangers recognized in it a very 
creditable reserve which was largely made necessary by the 
manner of living. This came out strongly in the women of 
the lower classes and in most of the women of the Western 
territories, who w^ere noted for their taciturnity.^^ On 
closer acquaintance, this reserve became transformed into 
an easy, affable, agreeable, manner, often accompanied by 
gaiety and talkativeness. Janson detested ''the pertness of 
republican principles" even in the conversation of the 
country girls, and complained that they answered a familiar 
question from the other sex with the confidence of a French 
mademoiselle; but even he, one of the most critical ob- 
servers of American women, attributed the fact to force of 
habit and education and not to any fault of morals.^^ 
Usually the feminine manners of social intercourse and 
family life were considered very charming; there was an 
artlessness, a liveliness, and a sweetness that were very ap- 
pealing.®^ The American girl never concealed her ignor- 
ance on a subject of conversation, but frankly avowed it, 

ssWelby, p. 337; Fearon, p. 376; Fowler, p. 215. 

89 Hodgson, II, 253. 

90 Hall, F., p. 159. 

91 Candler, pp. 75-76; Alexander, II, 114-115. 

92 Janson, p. 87. 

93 D'Arusmont, p. 26; Vigne, II, 244. 



MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 95 

and asked for information with absolute lack of embar- 
rassment. 

It is a significant fact that we never find in this travel 
literature under discussion, any aspersion cast upon the 
morals of the American woman. The standard of female 
virtue was high; evidence of this fact was overwhelming. 
Where vice existed, it was not flaunted in the eyes of the 
stranger. Stuart says that day or night there were ap- 
parently no light women in the streets, and that prostitutes 
could avoid unpleasant observation only by acting like de- 
cent women.^* A general air of modesty accompanied the 
American girl both of the poorer working class and in the 
ranks of society. So strong was this impression that the 
charge of prudery was often brought against them. Fash- 
ionable women were conspicuous for the modesty of their 
dress, which was nevertheless often showy and costly, and 
of their manners.^^ The prevailing attitude toward waltz- 
ing is significant.^® American young women were ex- 
tremely fond of dancing, in which they indulged freely, 
and in which they excelled. It is true that to some eyes the 
gravity and seriousness with which they regarded the 
pastime were ''almost pitiable." Quadrilles and cotillions 
were the favorite form of this amusement ; the waltz gained 
headway but slowly because of the charge of indelicacy 
that was brought against it. These scruples prevailed 
longer in New England than in the South, where waltzing 
came to be very much in vogue. 

The high standard of virtue seemed to the foreigner the 

9* Stuart, II, 131. 

95 lyArusinont, p. 27; Murray, II, 216; Mrs. Trollope, I, 189-190; 
Vigne, II, 271-272. 

96 For American dancing, see Murray, II, 115-116; Lambert, II, 
98-99; Winterbotham, I, 17; Hodgson, II, 4; Weld, I, 22; Hall, F., 
p. 181; D'Arusmont, p. 27; Alexander, II, 298. 



96 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

more paradoxical because of the almost unlimited liberty 
and freedom of intercourse that existed between young 
people of the two sexes.^^ Usually boys and girls went to 
the same academy or to the same public school, after the 
latter became a feature of American life. Girls ''came 
out" into society at a very early age and thereafter led a 
life of great liberty, as regards the other sex, until mar- 
riage. They were usually unattended by servants or elders, 
and walked, rode, and danced with male companions at 
their own pleasure and without any thought of impropriety. 
Certain arbitrary rules of conduct, however, prevailed to 
the astonishment and chagrin of the stranger. For in- 
stance, we are told that single ladies never accepted a gen- 
tleman's arm on the street lest they should be considered 
forward. ''After sunset, or when they stand engaged," 
says one author, ' ' they are less scrupulous. ' ' ^^ Many a 
visitor, like the gallant De Roos, found the pleasure of an 
excursion with an American girl "damped" by his being 
obliged to walk in the gutter when the streets were 
crowded.^^ 

Then, too, as regards the more formal intercourse, there 
were many things that affected the observer unpleasantly. 
There were many conflicting statements regarding the line 
of demarcation between the sexes in formal society. In 
many of the larger cities, women were not seen at formal 
dinner-parties, and at most other functions were relegated 
to one side of the room, where they discussed their own in- 
terests, leaving the men to enjoy theirs.^°^ Basil Hall re- 

97Duhring, p. 80; D'Arusmont, p. 28; De Roos, pp. 60-61; La- 
trobe, I, 35; Abdy, I, 69. 
»8 Candler, pp. 70-71. 

99 De Roos, p. 61. 

100 Stuart, II, 308-309 ; Hamilton, I, 235 ; Kendall, I, 327 ; Weston, 
pp. 86-87. 



MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 97 

gretted that thus women were prohibited from exercising 
to the full the influence they might exert over men, by 
participating more in the pleasures and amusements of the 
iatter.^^^ As Captain Hall drew most of his remarks from 
the absence of women at a cattle show near Boston, we are 
not obliged to take his strictures very seriously, but others 
mention the reserve and "icy propriety" that was evinced 
in mixed company, and the lack of social relations between 
the sexes/^- Alexander, however, tells of an evening party 
which he attended in New York in the early thirties, where 
the sexes mingled freely, and he calls attention to the fact 
that isolation prevailed chiefly in the Western districts. ^°^ 
It was suggested, too, that American society had the same 
standards in that respect as did the provincial towns of 
Great Britain — it had not yet attained to the freedom 
of intercourse of the best London circles. The failure of 
women to participate in men's diversions was sometimes 
ascribed to the fact that owing to the scarcity of servants, 
the average American woman had little time to share in her 
husband 's pleasures.^°* 

The domestic burdens laid upon her were made heavier 
by the fact of the very early marriages and the number of 
women who entered the married state.^^^ Marriage was 
considered a civil contract, more often performed by muni- 
cipal authorities than by the clergyman, who was often in- 
vited as a mark of respect. It is significant of the early 
age at which this contract was binding that in the state of 

101 Hall, B., II, 150 flf.; Duhring, p. 75 ff.; Stuart, II, 308-309. 

102 Fowler, p. 215; Hall, F., pp. 180-181. 

103 Alexander, II, 298. 

104 Duhring, p. 78. 

105 For discussion of early marriages, see Flint, p. 165; Shirreff, p. 
99; Mrs. Trollope, I. 166; Cooper, pp. 54-55; Wilson, Appendix, 
p. 105; Neilson, p. 225; Birkbeck, "Notes on a Journey," p. 86L 
See, also, Kendall, I, 288, and Weston, p. 223. 



98 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

New York, in the thirties, Abdy says, consent of parents or 
guardians was not necessary provided the boy had reached 
fourteen years and the girl twelve years/^^ There was no 
practical difficulty or ban of public opinion to prevent this 
custom of early marriage. There was no fear of lack of 
subsistence for the future family, as any man with indus- 
try might hope to gain a competence and even wealth. 
Uniformity of wealth and social rank made most men 
equally eligible. Then, marriage presented at that time, 
as has been said, almost the only outlook for women. With 
the exception of a few teachers, dressmakers, and workers 
in the factories of the Eastern cities, women were depend- 
ent upon the men of the family for support. Therefore 
the young woman regarded marriage as a natural destiny 
and entered it as a matter of course, usually before she was 
twenty-two. It was not at all unusual for a woman to have 
a family of children before she was eighteen years of age. 
It was estimated that each marriage produced on an aver- 
age six children, of whom four were reared.^^^ A surpris- 
ing number of travellers comment on the fact that marriage 
brought about almost invariably a change in even the most 
frivolous of women. They became more sober and serious, 
and took up, as a matter of course, the duties of domestic 
life.^^® The resulting absorption in this led to the much 
deplored division of the interests of husband and wife. 

This, however, did not prevent a very apparent and very 
satisfjdng relation between the two. In the family group 
and in wider intercourse, the woman occupied a high if 
somewhat narrow niche. No man must occupy a chair 
while women were standing; in stage coaches and other 
public conveyances their comfort was considered before 

106 Abdy, I, 253. 

107 Winterbotham, p. 73. 

108 See, for instance, Hall, F., p. 182; D'Arusmont, p. 28. 



MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 99 

that of anyone else.^^ Many an Englishman was aston- 
ished at the delay and inconvenience the presence of a 
woman might involve. Miss Martineau, who bitterly re- 
sented 'Hhe indulgence given American women as a sub- 
stitute for justice," declared that the degree of considera- 
tion shown them was greater than what was rational or 
good for either men or women; that such treatment made 
women petulant and fault-finding. 

Owing to the circumstances under which many women 
lived, especially in the more unsettled regions, they were 
hard-working drudges, but generally the effort was made 
to preserve them from unwomanly employment. In cases 
of emergency women were known to work in the fields, but 
public opinion did not encourage the practice. German 
and Irish emigrants persisted longest in it, in those parts 
in which they dwelt in considerable numbers, but the ar- 
rival of New Englanders among them usually banished 
women from the fields. Custom forbade that female duties 
should be much extended beyond the care of the domestic 
machinery.^^'^ 

In the effort to summarize a few of these aspects of 
American life as revealed to us by those who visited our 
country with their eyes open, it may be well to reconstruct 
the type of domestic life which prevailed here at that time. 
It is true that the variations in the different parts of the 
country forbid anything but an imperfect generalization, 
but a composite picture may be of some value in bringing 
to a focus these various phases. 

We find the typical family living in the country, and 
safely and comfortably ensconced in a frame house. This 

109 For deference to women, see Melish, II, 44-45; Neilson, p. 199; 
Hall, B., Ill, 71; Martineau, II, 227, 213; Abdy, II, 293. 

110 Neilson, p. 199; Kingdom, p. 12; Fearon, p. 221; Bradbury, 
Appendix, p. 303; Stuart, II, 172; Shirreff, p. 35. 



100 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

dwelling was of course antedated by the two-room log house 
with a loft, an easily-built form of habitation, but one 
which at its best was clearly a makeshift. The house that 
succeeded it as quickly as possible was much more com- 
fortable and capacious. It had the added advantages of 
floors and windows ; the use of the latter was much limited^ 
in unsettled regions in the earlier period by the great 
scarcity of glass for panes. In the towns, the wooden 
houses became more and more superseded by brick or 
stone buildings.^" This was chiefly because of the great 
number of fires. Many of the wooden structures were made 
with chimneys of the same material, which proved a cheap 
but dangerous substitute for stone. The sound of the fire- 
alarm became so frequent, we are told, that the American 
citizen, unless he happened to belong to one of the volun- 
teer fire companies, failed to regard it.^^^ As the wooden 
buildings were destroyed, the tendency was to replace them 
in brick. 

In this home lived a usually large and liappy family. 
Besides the parents and the children, there were likely to 
be one or two old people who were dependent for their sup- 
port. Especially did the care of an indigent woman fall to 
the lot of the nearest male relative. In the South, the num- 
ber of people around the table of a wealthy family was 
likely to be augmented by a tutor, employed for the young 
people, especially the boys. If the group were of the work- 
ing class, particularly in the North and East, it was likely 
to be diminished by the absence of some of the sons, who 
were bound out to learn various trades. They became un- 
der those conditions members of the employer's family. 

The only professional servants were negroes and Eu- 

111 Holmes, p. 361; Priest, p. 171; Stuart, I, 26; Coke, I, 162; 
Wood, pp. 274-278. 

112 Stuart, I, 26; also Kendall, II, 259. 



MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 101 

ropean emigrants, many of the latter, in the early days at^ 
least, the so-called ' ' redemptioners. ' ' White servants often 
made part of the family life, eating and drinking with the 
members on terms of intimacy. This was almost always 
true if the home was in the country. The native laborer in 
the country districts was regarded, not as an inferior, but 
as a person to be treated with respect and consideration. 
Often he was the son of a neighbor, or an ambitious youth 
who needed money for his educational schemes. He re- 
ceived for his work, we are told, from eight dollars a month 
in winter to ten dollars in summer (1815) with food and 
lodging, and his hours were from sunrise to sunset.^^^ 
Female domestic servants were called ** helps." Through- 
out this period they were very scarce, and' it was regarded 
as a great favor if they consented to help out the overbur- 
dened housewife. ^^'* They were seen more frequently in 
city homes than in the country. 

The domestic economy of the South was of course quite 
different, owing to the presence of large numbers of slaves. 
The effect of this institution on Southern life remains to 
be traced in a subsequent chapter. It may be well, how- 
ever, to say that in the typical Southern home, a less in- 
dolent form of life was lived than is sometimes supposed. 
To the responsibility of managing a large family of depend- 
ent slaves were added all the burdens entailed by isolation 
from schools and other evidences of civilization. 

Owing to the uniform standard of wealth, the typical 
family was comfortably situated as regards food and other 
necessities, and was usually satisfied. It is true that long 
before 1835 there began to be seen evidences of great wealth 
in the Eastern cities — wealth made usually in the shipping 
trade. Life gradually became more luxurious, and the 

ii3Abdy, I, 295; Stuart, I, 179. 

114 Alexander, II, 311; Martineau, I, 193 ff. 



102 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

cleavage between capital and labor became more accentu- 
ated. Costly European importations decorated the homes 
of the rich ; even the wealthy Quakers satisfied their love 
for beauty by indulging in the most expensive and beauti- 
ful furnishings for their houses.^^^ But in the period with 
which we have to do, the typical American still lived in 
the country, where he grew his own food, and made many 
of his own tools, and wore clothing which had been spun, 
woven, and made for him by the women of his family. 

We have already described the ineffectual winter costume 
of the city belle as she was presented to the eyes of the 
English visitor. Not all woman were dressed so foolishly, 
if we are to trust the statements of these same observers. 
Several noted the neatness and simplicity of the country 
,'irrs dress; it seems to have made a special impression in 
New England. One writer says (1808) : ''Their light hair 
is tastefully turned up behind in the modern style and 
fastened with a comb. Their dress is neat, simple and 
genteel, usually consisting of a printed cotton jacket with 
long sleeves, a petticoat of the same, with a colored cotton 
apron or pincloth without sleeves, tied tight and covering 
the lower part of the bosom. This seemed to be the prevail- 
ing dress in the country places. ' ' ^^^ 

The dress of the men was more sober and conservative 
than that of the women, though a different state of affairs 
had prevailed in the preceding century.^^^ This period wit- 
nessed the transition from breeches to pantaloons, and the 
accompanying abolition of wigs and powder and other friv- 
olities of men's dress. James Flint says that in 1818 the 
garb of men in New York was much like that in Britain at 
the time, but that pantaloons were almost universal ; the 
shorter small clothes were worn only by Quakers.^^^ Pai- 
ns Palmer, p. 283; Alexander, II, 270. ii7 Hamilton, II, 38. 
116 Lambert, II, 323. ns Flint, p. 62. 



MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 103 

mer says of the people of Philadelphia (1818), ''The dress 
of both sexes is English, or closely bordering thereon, and 
all take a pride in being well-dressed and polite." ^^® No 
class, whether men or women, could be identified by its 
costume, and it would have been extremely difficult in most 
cases to distinguish the mistress from the maid, or the em- 
ployer from his clerk, as far as clothing was concerned. 

It was not only in the public houses that strangers found 
a well-spread table, but in the private home as well. Two 
facts stand out in regard to American food: first, its uni- 
versal abundance ; second, the lack of thought and care dis- 
played in the preparation of it. Food might vary in nature 
and in quality, but never in quantity. The natural re- 
sources, the fertility of the ground and the consequent ease 
with which food was produced, and the predominance of 
the agricultural class combined to make America a rich 
storehouse of provisions accessible to even the poorest in 
coin. From this provision the American drew always three 
good meals a day and sometimes four.^^** His breakfast, 
served about eight o'clock in the city and somewhat earlier 
if he lived in the country, included a great assortment of 
broiled fish, eggs, beefsteak, ham, sausages, hot bread, and 
coffee. Pork and corn meal in all forms were staple 
foods.^-^ Buckwheat cakes were much in esteem in the 
North; their place was taken in the South by other forms 
of hot bread. Dinner came about six hours later and pre- 
sented much the same array of foods. People had at their 
command in those times, as natural products free to all, 
luxuries which are now tasted only by the rich. Turkeys 
were abundant, the coast-line states abounded in oysters 
and terrapin, and canvas-back duck offered a novelty to 

119 Palmer, p. 283; Hall, B., I, 156. 

120 Candler, p. 78 flf. 

121 Parkinson, II, 331. 



104 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

the English stranger, who looked forward to tasting this 
much-vaunted dish. The verdict in regard to it was unani- 
mous/" Tea, which usually included supper, came at six 
or seven o'clock. A vast variety of foods more than com- 
pensated for some loss in substantial quality. Preserved 
fruits figured largely on the menu, and ' ' oysters and sweet 
cakes, strawberries and cheese [were] placed side by side" 
with an astonishing indifference to the claims of diges- 
tion."3 

In spite of all this display, it was often remarked that 
the Americans did not take their eating seriously enough 
to do it comfortably. The rapidity with which they dis- 
patched their meals was proverbial, though the trait was 
not so apparent in the private home as in the inn dining- 
room. It is quite evident that they were not epicures. 
They ate to live; dining was part of the day's business. 
One traveller complained that they put too many kinds 
of food on their plates at one time, thereby betraying their 
indifference to flavor.^^* They did not linger over their 
wine, but drank it hastily and in moderate quantities. 
American cooking, too, w^as considered by Englishmen 
notoriously poor, and much of the dyspepsia was attributed 
to the heavy pastry and the fried food. In brief, the whole 
attitude of Americans toward their eating and drinking 
was a strictly utilitarian one, though they loaded their 
tables with all the luxuries afforded by their abundant 
resources. 

Life was not all labor, even to the hard-working farm- 
er's family. Work was often done in the country by de- 
claring a kind of *' frolic"; buildings were raised, eorn 

122 For luxuries of the table, see Vigne, I, 125, 128; Stuart, II, 
10; Tudor, I, 445; Candler, p. 81. 

123 Candler, p. 83. 

12* Candler, p. 81; ShirreflF, p. 269. 



MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 105 

husked, apples pared, and quilts provided for future win- 
ters by the joint efforts of the family and their neighbors. 
Not always were these ''frolics" accessible to the traveller; 
occasionally there is mention of participation in one/^^ 
Hunting was the favorite pastime of the men;^^^ it also 
yielded practical results for the table. Children were 
taught very early to use a gun, and many were remarkably 
proficient. 

The social life in the cities was rather uniform; much 
the same kind of existence was passed in Boston and in 
Charleston. For instance, among fashionable people there 
were two periods of the day given over to calling : one last- 
ing from twelve to two, when ladies either visited or re- 
ceived callers of both sexes; the other after the evening 
meal.^^^ In Philadelphia and the cities farther south, the 
latter social hour was spent on the front steps of the 
houses in summer, and many a pretty picture has been 
drawn by foreign visitors of the group of white-frocked 
young women entertaining their callers in the cool evening 
air on the spotless marble steps of some dignified residence 
in Philadelphia or Washington.^^® Cards and billiards 
were popular aids to entertainment, and, judging from the 
frequent mention of concerts, the interest in them was very 
great. By eleven o'clock the guests at any function began 
to depart, and by twelve the streets were hardly disturbed 
by a footfall.^2^ Palmer thus sums up the amusements of 
the commercial class of Philadelphia: "Their summer pas- 
times are excursions to various parts of the neighborhood, 

125 Parkinson, II, 331; Cobbett, Chap. XII; Bradbury, Appendix, 
p. 301; Ferrall, pp. 67-69; Holmes, p. 132, 358; Fearon, pp. 220-221; 
Weston, pp. 194-195, 196-197, 213-218. 

126 Coke, I, 120; Dalton, p. 58. 

127 Abdy, I, 69. 

128 See, for instance, Power, I, 243; Hodgson, II, 19. 
129 Power, I, 243; Weld, I, 252. 



106 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

sometimes in carriages and often in steamboats up and 
down the Delaware, occasional visits to Peal's museum, the 
circus and vauxhall gardens ; with the youths, fishing, bath- 
ing, cricket, quoits, etc.; in winter their amusements are 
the theatre, museum, billiards, sleighing, dancing and con- 
certs; balls are not uncommon but masquerades are 
unheard of; the most splendid and genteel ball is on 
Washington's birth-night, which occurs sometime in Febru- 

Life in the communities of the West was much like that 
just described, though everything was on a more crude and 
less elegant plan. A description of society in Lexington, 
Kentucky, in 1806, reveals a state of affairs much like that 
in any large city in the East, except for the fact that it was 
colored by the more turbulent propensities of the men of 
the community and therefore lost much grace and ele- 
gance.^^^ Even in those early days it was possible to live 
in luxury and elegance in the new West. 

Whether the family was rich or poor, whether it lived 
in the country or in the city, the general feeling that ex- 
isted within it was said to be the same. In the family life 
there was very little ** surface sentiment." The lack of 
this was entailed not only by the hard-working exisfence 
that most people lived, but by the whole spirit of independ- 
ence and self-reliance that permeated the family circle. 
Children relied very little on their mothers; even less on 
their fathers. The typical family, however, was a group 
of kindly, good-natured, tolerant people, very undemon- 
strative toward one another but maintaining a strong mu- 
tual affection and respect. This was, according to travel- 
lers, as conspicuous as their peaceful relations with the rest 
of society. *' Private life," says Abdy, ''resembles self- 

130 Palmer, pp. 283-284. 

131 Ashe, p. 192; Stuart, II, 271; Martineau, I, 201 ff. 



MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 107 

government, compact in itself, inoffensive to others and 
tributary to the general union. . . . That respect for the 
feelings of others, which in mixed society induces mutual 
forbearance and forbids familiarity, is not, as in too many 
places, laid aside when it is most wanted. . . . There seems 
to be a sort of correspondence between the political institu- 
tions of the country and its family arrangements 

''I believe it is not so much the outward plenty, or the 
mutual freedom, or the simplicity of manners, or the in- 
cessant play of humor, which characterizes the whole peo- 
ple, as the sweet temper which is diffused like sunshine over 
the land. ... I imagine that the practice of forbearance 
requisite in a republic is answerable for the pleasant pecu- 
liarity ; . . . the respect for mutual rights which citizens 
have perpetually forced upon them abroad comes thence to 

be observed toward the weak and unresisting in the privacy 
of home. "^32 

i82Abdy, I, 70. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE CARE OF THE UNFORTUNATE 

In the care of the diseased, whether the affliction were 
physical, mental, or moral, America, at the time with which 
we are concerned, represented a kind of vast experiment 
station. In her desperate attempts to care for her rapidly 
increasing population she made, as a matter of course, 
mistakes which we are able to perceive now that years have 
elapsed, but which then stood for the most advanced knowl- 
edge of the day. 

In the years before the Revolution, the care of the poor 
was a comparatively easy problem. If the aged or indigent 
could not be taken care of by their relatives, as was the 
custom, the duty of their support fell to the community, 
which paid their board with some private family. As the 
number of public poor increased, they were gathered into 
almshouses to facilitate the care of them. The first of these 
public homes was founded by the Friends in 1713, in Penn- 
sylvania. The example was followed by other states, and 
by the beginning of the Revolution almshouses were a well- 
known institution. One of the first instances of mention of 
them by travellers is in 1799, when Isaac Weld visited what 
he called a ''Bettering House" in Philadelphia. Here the 
poor were furnished with employment and were ''comfort- 
ably lodged and dieted. ' ' ^ 

In these places of refuge, which were sufficient for the 

iWeld, I, 12-13. 

108 



THE CARE OF THE UNFORTUNATE 109 

needs of the time, but which represented a very small 
financial burden on the taxpayer, the visitor saw a large 
and curiously assorted group of inmates. Orphan children 
found a home there, as there was no other place for them. 
The institution was seen to take the place of the hospital 
to the poor and aged of both sexes. Harmless lunatics al- 
ways made part of the family and were allowed to wander 
about at large; if one became violent, he was kept caged 
like an animal, and treated as such.^ 

This comparatively simple condition of affairs was com- 
plicated from the first days of the new republic by the 
astonishing increase in pauperism. This was traced to sev- 
eral causes, of which the most serious was intemperance. 
The increase of the dramshop and the *' corner grocery" 
was constant, and ominous for the future welfare of the 
United States. In 1809, an investigation by the Humane 
Society of New York revealed the presence of 1800 licensed 
dramshops in that city alone. In the First Annual Re- 
port of the American Temperance Society (Andover, 1828) 
quoted by Basil Hall, it was estimated that the number of 
paupers in the United States at that time was 200,000, 
whose support cost annually $10,000,000. The majority of 
these 200,000 were addicted to drink.^ 

In 1829, Cobbett made the statement that very few native 
Americans were paupers, but that the greater part were 
either Europeans in distress or free negroes. His own poor 
rates were trifling, amounting annually to only seven dol- 
lars upon a rent of six hundred.* Harriet Martineau sup- 
ported the former statement by saying that pauperism was 
** confined to the ports, emigrants making their way back 

2 See Dalton, p. 57, for description of inmates of a Lancaster 
( Pa. ) almshouse. 
sHall, B., II, 87-88. 
* Cobbett, p. 224. 



110 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

into the country, the families of intemperate or disabled 
men, and unconnected women who depended on their own 
exertions. ' ' She deplored the possibility of the curse of a 
legal charity, and looked with apprehension upon the 
"magnificent pauper asylum in Philadelphia, made to ac- 
commodate luxuriously 1200 persons. " ° It was this same 
"magnificent" institution that Thomas Brothers, a few 
years afterward, attacked so bitterly, quoting from the 
Pennsylvania papers to show the abuses that went on, and 
the cruel treatment of the inmates.^ However, this was 
looked on as a model place of its kind, and a worthy ex- 
ample of Philadelphia's interest in benevolent concerns. 
No city in the world of the same population, it was said, 
had so many charitable societies as did the City of Broth- 
erly Love. In 1832, it was estimated that there were up- 
wards of thirty institutions and societies for the relief of 
the poor and orphans, besides more than 150 mutual benefit 
societies. 

Out of the necessity for segregating certain classes of 
people in the almshouse grew the orphan asylum, the house 
of refuge, the public hospital, and the institution for the 
insane. It soon became apparent that the ordinary poor- 
house was no place in which to bring up children. Lam- 
bert says ^ that in 1806, the Orphan Asylum Society of the 
City of New York was founded through the activities of 
the Ladies' Society for the Relief of Poor Widows with 
Small Children, "the first women's charitable organization 
in New York." After the movement was well-started, the 
state took a part in its support. One of the best-known 
and most frequently visited orphan asylums seems to have 
been that of Charleston, South Carolina. More than one 



sMartineau, II, 289. 

6 Brothers, p. 246 ff.; Palmer, p. 275. 

7 Lambert, II, 78. 



THE CARE OF THE UNFORTUNATE 111 

Englisli traveller mentions having seen it when his route 
lay through that city.® 

The houses of refuge were founded for both boys and 
girls. According to Captain Hall, they oifered a home for 
youthful delinquents who had either been in prison or who 
would ' ' in the regular course of law be sent there. ' ' ® The 
inmates, after a certain period of probation, were bound 
out to tradespeople, preferably in a part of the country 
where their previous history was unknown.^* Hamilton 
says that they usually prospered in their new environment, 
and the institutions were invariably spoken of in high terms 
as having accomplished a great work of reformation. 

In medicine and the care of the sick we have indeed 
travelled a long way since 1835. Consumption raged un- 
checked, especially among women. Then, too, it was not 
until the second decade of the century that the Americans 
were seen to combat successfully the dreadful scourge of 
yellow fever that devasted the coast cities practically every 
summer. At first it levelled its hardest blows at populous 
New York and Philadelphia, but later attacked the more 
Southern cities. New Orleans was said to have had 800 
deaths from it in the summer of 1817, and 2190 in 1819. 
There grew up around this much-dreaded plague a literature 
which is highly illuminating in regard to the conditions of 
living at the time. English travellers from Weld to Ferrall 
give more or less full and vivid descriptions of the effects 
of the pestilence.^^ 

Hospitals developed from the infirmaries which were a, 

8 Stuart, II, 71; Lambert, II, 134-135; Neilson, p. 260. 
s Hall, B., I, 24-25. 

10 Hamilton, I, 276-277. 

11 For remarks on the yellow fever, see Blane, p. 9 fiF. ; Hamilton, 
II, 212-214, 279-281; Weld, I, 4, 46; Hodgson, I, 50-54; Bernard, 
pp. 195-197, 260-261; D'Arusmont, pp. 354-355; Wansey, pp. 131- 
132; Ferrall, pp. 205, 213-214. 



112 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

part of the charitable institutions. All through this period, 
and for many years afterward, the hospital was remarked 
to be the last resource of the penniless sick man. One's 
presence there marked one as an object of charity. ^^ It 
is interesting to note that we find a survival of this attitude 
in certain rural districts even today. The Philadelphia 
hospital was originally a part of the almshouse. Weld 
again gives us our earliest description of this famous in- 
stitution. In 1795, when he saw it, it was unsurpassed, he 
said, by any other institution of the kind in the world. 
It was still in process of building, though it had been 
founded in 1756. By 1793, it had sheltered 9000 patients 
suffering from disorders of either mind or body, ''upwards 
of 6000, of whom were relieved or cured. ' ' " We have an- 
other description of it in 1821, a large convenient building 
"with spacious and airy walks, enclosed for the accommo- 
dation of the patients."^* Tudor visited it in 1831 and 
spoke in high praise of its efficiency. It was, he says, ap- 
propriated equally to insane patients and surgical cases.^' 
In 1833, there were 983 patients admitted, of whom 500 
were foreigners. Those who could afford it paid three to 
six dollars a week, but its first object was the accommoda- 
tion of the poor.^^ Other hospitals were visited by the 
stranger. There was a fine one in Boston, also one in 
New York, situated in the center of the city and possessing 
the advantages of a high elevation and extensive grounds,^^ 
but the Philadelphia institution is by far the most famous. 
The treatment of the insane was, up to a late period, 
ill-judged and ignorantly cruel. The mentally unbalanced 

12 Coke, I, 38; Abdy, I, 41. 

13 Weld, I, 11-12. 
1* Dalton, p. 27. 

15 Tudor, I, 97; Palmer, p. 273 (1817); Coke, I, 38-39. 

16 Abdy, III, 136-137. "Hall, B., II, 133; Boardman, p. 92. 



THE CARE OF THE UNFORTUNATE 113 

among the poor were kept in jail or in the almshouse; 
wealthier people usually employed an attendant or 
** boarded out" the patient. Instruments of torture were 
used in the belief that they acted as ''tranquillizing" 
agents. Coke tells of seeing in an almshouse lunatic ward 
in Philadelphia "a man with a most forbidding coun- 
tenance, feeding a poor girl who was chained to the wall 
and her hands confined in a strait waistcoat, but," he adds, 
*'I was assured that such severe measures were but sel- 
dom, and blows never, had recourse to. ' ' ^^ Insane asylums, 
as such, were very slow in coming. Cases of mental dis- 
turbance were, as has been said, taken care of in the general 
hospital, where a wing or a row of cells below the ground 
floor was set apart for them.^® Gaillard Hunt says that 
the first real asylum in New York was established in 1839 
when the insane were moved from Bellevue to Blooming- 
dale, and that the same year saw the establishment of the 
first asylum in Massachusetts. But Hamilton in 1830 
visited an institution of this kind in New York,^^ and 
Abdy in 1833 saw in Boston a very interesting asylum the 
methods of which were astonishingly modern. ^^ He says 
of it : * ' The principle on which the establishment is con- 
ducted differs very considerably, and from what I saw and 
heard, very successfully, from the methods usually pur- 
sued in the treatment of lunatics. No kind of deception, 
and if possible, no restraint, is exercised upon the patients, 
who are allowed every indulgence and gratification that 
are not incompatible with the object for which they are 
sent hither . . . with the aid of soothing language, occu- 
pation suited to their inclinations, proper exercise and 
appropriate medicines, an alleviation, if not a cure, of the 
malady is effected. ... No one is confined, however vio- 

18 Coke, I, 39. 20 Hamilton, I, 276. 

isDalton, p. 27; Weld, I, 11. 21 Abdy, I, 98 flF. 



114 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

lent and intractable, in irons or in solitude. No breach 
of promise, no attempt to mislead, is ever permitted. . . . 
Riding on horseback for both sexes is found very service- 
able ; gardening, or any other occupation that may interest 
or amuse, is employed with good effect; and as the house 
is open to visitors at all times, and the same courtesies 
are observed toward the inmates as are practiced in com- 
mon life, a constant succession of objects presents itself, 
to give gentle exercise to the tastes and affections, and 
dispel the morbid illusions of the imagination. To gain 
his confidence, and imperceptibly lead him to the exercise 
of its disused energies and faculties ... is all that the 
physician studies in the management of his patient. ' ' ^^ 

In the early part of this period, a criminal class, as such, 
was conspicuously lacking in the United States. The 
population in the cities had not yet become congested, and 
while vice existed to a certain extent, the cases were more 
isolated and taken as a matter of course. In Pennsylvania 
and New York before the Revolution there had been six- 
teen crimes punishable by death. ^^ The former colony in 
her penal code was again the instigator of much that was 
humane and broad-minded in policy. She was the first to 
do away with the death-penalty except for murder and 
treason, substituting labor and imprisonment. In 1796, 
New York followed her example, and gradually the death 
penalty came to be exacted only for the two crimes. Gen- 
erally, lawlessness did not prevail to any extent. Dalton 
gives us a glimpse of the record of the Philadelphia police 
court for one night, which is significant of the conditions 
existing even as late as 1821.^* 

22 Abdy, III, 137; also gives a description of the lunatic ward in 
the Philadelphia hospital. 

23 Hall, B., I, 63; Holmes, p. 415; Duncan, I, 230-231. 

24 Dalton, pp. 28-29. 



THE CARE OF THE UNFORTUNATE 115 

**1. A black boy, twelve years old, found strolling in the 
streets at midnight, having no home— committed to be 
bound out as an apprentice. 

2. A black girl, ten years old, found in the streets at 
midnight — committed as a runaway. 

3. Two women, found drunk at eleven o'clock at night 
— ^were each sentenced to one month's imprisonment. 

4. A man was bound over to court for leading a mob to 
resist the dog-killers. 

5. Many boys were bound over to court for habitually 
disturbing the peace at the corners of streets during 
evenings. ' ' 

The prisons of America were at this time well worth 
visiting, as they were the scene of interesting sociological 
experiments, the results of which are apparent today in the 
same institutions. The term of imprisonment varied in 
length, as is the case today, but the manner of housing 
the prisoners, and the working out of the plans toward 
their reformation, presented a decided innovation. 

Until the introduction of the penitentiary system with 
the reclamation of the convict as its aim, American prisons 
were unspeakable in their conditions and were veritable 
schools of crime. No discrimination was shown in housing 
the prisoners; the guilty of all ages and of all degrees of 
crime were herded together, and usually spent their days 
in idleness and vice. The best description of one of these 
early prisons is given us by the Englishman Kendall (1806) , 
who visited in Connecticut a prison in an old copper mine.^" 
He comments on the filthy and unhealthful living condi- 
tions, and especially on the disastrous moral effects of such 
imprisonment. In 1790, Pennsylvania instituted what was 
known as the penitentiary system, with separate cells for 
the convicts. Weld gives one of the early accounts of this 
25 Kendall, I, Chap. XXI. 



116 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

institution, which he declared was probably better reg- 
ulated than any other of its kind in the world. "As soon 
as a prisoner is committed to the prison," he says, *'he 
is made to wash, his hair is shorn, and if not decently 
clothed, he is furnished with clean apparel; then he is 
shown into a solitary cell about 9 feet long and 4 wide, 
where he remains debarred from the sight of every living 
being except his gaoler . . . who is forbidden on any ac- 
count to speak to him without there is absolute occasion. 
If a prisoner is at all refractory, or if the offence for which 
he is imprisoned is of a very atrocious nature, he is then 
confined in a cell secluded even from the light of heaven." 
The treatment of each prisoner was regulated during his 
term. ''Solitary confinement in a dark cell is looked upon 
as the severest usage; next, solitary confinement in a cell 
with the admission of light; next, confinement in a cell 
where the prisoner is allowed to do some sort of work; 
lastly, labor in a company with others. The prisoners are 
obliged to bathe twice every week . . . and also to change 
their linen. Those in solitary confinement are kept upon 
bread and water, but those who labor are allowed broth, 
porridge, puddings and the like: meat is dispensed only 
in small quantities twice in the week. Their drink is 
water, on no pretense is any other beverage suffered to be 
brought into the prison. . . . Those who labor are em- 
ployed in the particular trade to which they have been 
accustomed, provided it can be carried on in the prison; 
if not acquainted with any, something is soon found that 
they can do, . . . The women are kept totally apart from 
the men and are employed in a manner suitable to their 
sex. The laborers all eat together in one large apartment, 
and regularly, every Sunday, there is divine service at 
which all attend. " ^^ A brave attempt was made to render 
26 Weld, I, 13-19; Melish, I, 160-162; Hall, F., pp. 183-190. 



THE CARE OF THE UNFORTUNATE 117 

this experiment successful, and once more Pennsylvania's 
example was followed by the other states, so that by 1821 
fourteen of the latter had penitentiaries.^^ But unfor- 
tunately, the expected reformation in the criminal classes 
did not manifest itself, and other schemes were resorted 
to. From 1816-18 on, there were two rival systems, one 
being experimented with in the Philadelphia institution 
and the other in the state prison at Auburn, New York. 
All subsequently established prisons were managed accord- 
ing to one of these systems, and it was the result of one 
or both of these that was constantly being considered by 
the interested English traveller of the second and third 
decades of the century. 

In 1818, the legislature of Pennsylvania changed from 
the old system previously described to that of solitary con- 
finement. The prisoner neither saw nor heard a human 
being except his jailer, the chaplain or visiting clergyman, 
the inspectors, and other authorities of the institution. It 
was apparently some time before this could be put into 
operation. In 1819, when Dalton visited the penitentiary, 
the old system was still in use; he makes no mention of 
the new one.^® Vigne in 1832 speaks of it as a new estab- 
lishment and says the first warden was appointed in 
1829.29 

The principle on which this institution was founded, it 
was observed, was that reformation of the prisoner could 
be effected if by solitary confinement his thoughts were 
turned necessarily to himself and his guilt. By excluding 
him from the sight of his fellow-prisoners, the authorities 
believed they were doing him a great service; there was 
no danger that anyone would recognize him after his re- 

27 Duncan, I, 68. 

28 Dalton, pp. 24-25; see, also, Fearon, pp. 156-157. 

29 Vigne, I, 32. 



118 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

lease, and he would therefore not be obliged to live down 
the disgrace of his prison life. '*It was, in the first in- 
stance," Tudor says, ''gravely determined, no doubt with 
good motives but with a most mistaken judgment, to con- 
demn to solitary confinement without labor; the effect of 
which, leaving out of consideration the negative conse- 
quence of the loss of profit arising from their work, would 
have operated, I fear, more on the brain than on the heart. 
... I am strongly inclined to believe that the supposed 
superior reformation of morals expected to be derived from 
the system would, in the majority of instances of persons 
confined for a series of years, terminate in self-murder or 
insanity. " ^^ It was exactly this result which is said to 
have forced the authorities to institute labor in the in- 
dividual cells, thereby making the institution self-support- 
ing. It was estimated that a prisoner who had two years 
or more to remain in confinement could earn sufficient 
to clear all his expenses from his admission tiU his dis- 
charge.^^ 

The Auburn prison, which instituted the rival system, 
was begun in 1816. ^^ In 1821, we are told by Dalton, 
it was not yet completed, but already housed 170 inmates. 
Before 1816, the New York State prison had been in New 
York City at Greenwich. It was a prison of the old type 
under the authority of a board of inspectors. Each con- 
vict worked, however, and received at his discharge, it was 
said, whatever sum had accrued to him during his imprison- 
ment, over and above his expenses.^^ The first method of 
control adopted by the new institution was that of solitary 
confinement, as in Philadelphia, until the resulting preva- 

30 Tudor, I, 103-104. 
siVigne, I, 33-34. 

32 Tudor, I, 206; Coke, II, p. 1 ff.; Holmes, p. 420; Dalton, p. 92. 

33 Lambert, II. 67-68; see Palmer, p. 310 ff. 



THE CARE OF THE UNFORTUNATE 119 

lence of insanity among the prisoners made a change im- 
perative. The new system was destined to be known as 
the "beau ideal of what prison discipline should be" and 
to survive until the day of the Mutual Welfare League. 
The prisoners worked together but without communication 
of any kind, and were separated at night. ^* Tudor says 
that at the time of his visit in 1831, there were three rep- 
resentatives of the French government present in the town, 
sent there to inspect the prison as a model. At the time, 
it contained 700 men and only 30 women, a discrepancy 
in numbers on which the visitor comments, but adds that 
the jailer told him that he had ''infinitely more trouble 
and vexation in keeping the thirty females in order and 
obedience, than with all the overwhelming majority of the 
more peaceable men whom he had in charge. ' ' ^^ 

Subsequent prisons in New York State were founded on 
the Auburn model ; of these Sing Sing was agreed to be the 
most notable example.^^ Other states imitated either one 
or the other of these two great institutions, and we meet 
with many descriptions by travellers of prisons in Connec- 
ticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, Maryland, and Kentucky, 
which were modelled on these systems.^^ They all seem to 
have been more than self-supporting, which fact was much 
emphasized. Espionage was carried on by means of peep- 
hole in the walls of cells and workrooms, so that the 
prisoner never knew when he was under surveillance.^^ It 
was this last feature that Miss Martineau considered espe- 

34 This prison (Auburn) was visited by many travellers; Fowler, 
pp. 90-94; Stuart, I, 65 ff.; Coke, II, 1 ff.; Murray, I, 63 ff.; Howl- 
son, pp. 310-312. 

35 Tudor, I, 211. 

36 For accounts of Sing Sing, see Boardman, pp. 114-116; Abdy, 
I, 56-57; Hamilton, I, 167-179. 

37 Stuart, I, 77; Power, I, 114 ff.; Abdy, I, 90. 

38 Alexander, II, 264; Abdy, I, 269. 



120 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

cially reprehensible when she visited the Auburn prison. 
She denounced it as ''the deepest of insults," and a hin- 
drance to self-respect in the morally infirm man. Most 
visitors, however, heartily approved the plan.^^ 

Comparisons were constantly being made of the relative 
cost of English and American prisons, very much to the 
advantage of the American system. Basil Hall quotes the 
reports of the Boston Prison Discipline Society to show 
the astonishing cheapness of it. In England, in one year, 
3699 convicts earned about $41,727. In the United States, 
999 convicts earned $81,979. ''Or, in other words," he 
says, "a little more than one-fourth part the number of 
convicts in the United States earn more than double the 
amount of nearly four times the number of convicts in 
England." He attributes this increase to the difference of 
discipline and of diet. American prisoners received more 
animal food than did the English. This was made neces- 
sary by the heavy labor they performed.*^ Another ad- 
vantage which the American prisoner enjoyed after 1826 
was an opportunity for free education, which, however, was 
not made compulsory.*^ 

A feature of the penal code that was felt to be a grievous 
mistake was the ease with which pardons could be obtained 
in America. Seldom was a term of imprisonment com- 
pleted. Pardons were granted on the principle that 
punishment was reformatory, and in the belief that the 
prisoner had reformed. The practice was so abused that 
complaints were heard from all sides. A life sentence was 
generally understood, one traveller says, to mean imprison- 
ment for a shorter term than if a limited sentence of a few 
years had been imposed. "It is certain," says Basil Hall, 

ssMartineau, 11, 286. 
40 Hall, B., I, 67-68. 
*i Ibid., I, 71. 



THE CARE OF THE UNFORTUNATE 121 

''that at any rate the progress of prison reform was much 
delayed by this constant yielding to the temptation to be 
too merciful and that conviction and punishment were 
robbed of half their terrors for the offender. ' ' ^^ 

42 On pardons, see Hall, B., I, 75; Martineau, II, 288; Abdy, I, 
22-23; Duncan, I, 71. 



CHAPTER V 

SLAVERY 

Among the forces that might make for the disintegra- 
tion of this new union of states, the institution of slavery- 
stood foremost in the minds of all thoughtful people in 
the early part of the nineteenth century. This curious 
anomaly of a large servile class in the midst of a population 
whose most cherished ideals had to do with freedom and 
equality, interested and puzzled the foreigner, and set him 
wondering just what the outcome would be.^ A great deal 
was said and written about slavery in these years; no one 
seems to have taken it lightly, though the question had by 
no means assumed the menacing proportions that it assumed 
a few years later. 

The Northern states had either developed a personal con- 
science in regard to the matter or had begun to realize the 
utter lack of profit for themselves in slave-holding; they 
had not yet reached the point of trying to influence the 
South; in short, slavery was still a local matter. At the 
close of the Revolution, the New England and other North- 
ern States either abolished the institution outright, as was 
the case in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont, 
or passed laws for its gradual abolition. They decreed that 

1 Flower, p. 96; Duncan, II, 251-252; Blane, p. 201; Shirreff, pp. 
311-312; Tudor, II, 71. See Moore, T., "Epistle to Lord Viscount 
Forbes" (Poems Relating to America). 

122 



SLAVERY 123 

''after a certain day in a certain year slavery should be 
prohibited; that men and women who were slaves on that 
day should remain so, but that children born thereafter of 
slave parents should be free on attaining a certain age.*' 
In 1817, New York passed a law providing that on July 
4, 1827, slavery should cease in the state. 

Even after his emancipation in the North, the negro had 
his influence on the economy of that part of the country. 
We have seen in a previous chapter that domestic service 
of various kinds was considered humiliating because it was 
usually performed by the negro race and therefore carried 
with it the taint of degradation. As for his personal treat- 
ment, there were many observers whose testimony shows 
that to all practical purposes, the negro was still in bondage. 
''They are subjected to the most grinding and humiliating 
of all slaveries," said Hamilton in 1834, "that of univer- 
sal and unconquerable prejudice. The whip indeed has 
been removed from the back of the Negro but the chains 
are still on his limbs, and he bears the brand of degrada- 
tion on his forehead." ^ That the limitations of the negro's 
power arose from prejudice rather than from legislative 
enactment is true, though it must be admitted that even 
the anti-slave states guarded their prerogatives jealously 
and limited the political rights of the negro as much as 
possible, chiefly from the conception of his intellectual and 
moral inferiority. The education of the free black in the 
North, even to those who were benevolently interested, 
seemed rather a hopeless and futile task. Hamilton says 
that while there were Americans who testified to the fact 
that the negroes often revealed themselves as apt pupils, 
it was admitted that there was no point to be gained in 
educating them, as the future held no promise for them 

2 Hamilton, I, 93. Also Fearon, pp. 58-59; Holmes, p. 334; Abdy,. 
Ill, 206-207. 



124 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

and their education only helped to aggravate their sense 
of exclusion from the rights of white citizens.^ 

This attitude of superiority toward the unfortunate 
freedman aroused the indignation of many English visitors 
in whom this kind of prejudice was to a large extent 
lacking. They urged justice at least toward these beings 
who were *' protected as citizens when the public service 
required their security, but not otherwise treated as 
such."* Very few Englishmen would have gone as far 
as Abdy and Candler, who could see no harm in the 
amalgamation of the two races. The former, who came 
here as companion to an English government inspector of 
prisons, had as his chief interest the welfare of the negro, 
and believed that objection to intermarriage was narrow- 
minded and unjust.^ Candler affirmed confidently that 
the union sooner or later would certainly take place. ' * Much 
as the whites at present may dislike the idea," he said, 
**it will contribute to their mutual advantage. The notion 
that the species will be deteriorated by the union is ridi- 
culous. Physical reasons may be given for believing di- 
rectly the reverse. The sooner this union takes place the 
better, for a caste in society is a dangerous evil. ' ' ^ Though 
one might not, however, be in favor of the intermarriage 
of the negro and the white, there were numbers of people 
who resented the personal indignities heaped upon the 
helpless freedman in the states where he had been set at 
liberty. Fear on rejoiced at the absence of negroes in Con- 
necticut and Rhode Island, not from personal prejudice 
but because he hated all forms of oppression, and the sights 

3 Hamilton, I, 90-92. See, also, Holmes, pp. 331, 334. 

4 Candler, Chap. XXI (entire), p. 280 ff; Martineau, I, 145; 
JD'Arusmont, pp. 52-53, denies degraded condition of the Northern 
megro. 

6 Abdy, I, 156-162. « Candler, p, 298. 



SLAVERY 125 

he had witnessed among the free negroes of New York and 
New Jersey made him reluctant to see any more cruelties/ 
Boardman (1833) tells of the interference with the ne- 
groes' Fifth of July celebration in New York. The fact 
that impressed him the most in the treatment of the free 
blacks was that they were not permitted to be buried in 
the same cemeteries as the whites, ''as if the distinction 
were to be perpetuated forever." ^ Abdy went, in Boston, 
to hear a public lecture on slavery ; he says that there were 
at that time (1833) fewer free blacks in Boston than in 
New York, but they were not better treated. They had 
difficulty in gaining a livelihood ; with the exception of one 
or two employed as printers, one blacksmith, and one shoe- 
maker, there were no colored mechanics in the city.^ 

In the South, the attitude toward the negro was more 
easily to be understood by the foreigner. The whites in 
the slave states were in the peculiar position of having to 
cope with a part of the population that was seemingly 
indispensable and that nevertheless represented a drain 
upon the life of the community. That the Southerner was 
sincere in his belief that the slave was necessary for exist- 
ence in the South was believed by English visitors; that 
he usually considered the institution a great evil and a 
menace to the best interests of his state and country is just 
as evident. ^'^ What, then, was he to do? asked the ob- 
server. Often his whole fortune was tied up in his slaves 
and his land; the former were necessary if he was to get 
income from the latter. Slavery prevented the introduction 
of any other class of laborers, and the lack of these in 
turn made it necessary that the unsatisfactory institution 

TFearon, p. 97, pp. 167-168; also Kendall, I, 141. 

8 Boardman, p. 311. 

9 Abdy, I, 12M22. 

10 Murray, II, 204; Power, II, 80. 



126 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

should be preserved. A deadlock was thus produced. Be- 
sides, few white laborers could endure the hard life on 
the rice, sugar, or cotton plantation in the Southern cli- 
mate.^^ It was argued that the cessation of slavery would 
put a stop to the cultivation of both rice and sugar in the 
United States. Hamilton says that during all his tour 
through the country he never talked with an American on 
the subject of slavery without the latter 's at once admitting 
the magnitude of the evil. ''The planters," he says, ''uni- 
formly speak of it as a noxious exhalation by which their 
whole atmosphere is poisoned. 'Yet what is to be done?' 
they ask. 'You express yourself shocked by the existence 
of slavery, have you formed any plan for its abolition? 
... At all events, do not suppose that we maintain slavery 
in our territory from choice. Far from it. We regard 
those states w^here this curse is unknown with envy. We 
would gladly become as they are, but cannot. ' ^ ' 12 j^ ^^g 
easy for the Northern states to free their slaves; there 
was no vital reason for keeping them; in fact they were 
a drain upon Northern resources and their emancipation 
involved no particular sacriiice, but in the South, circum- 
stances were quite different. The planters there would 
have welcomed a solution of the problem that "substituted 
bad labor for good, and an unsound population for a 
healthy one. ' ' ^^ 

It was noticed that there was a great deal of fear, too, 
mingled in the attitude of the Southerner toward his slaves. 
Memories of atrocities in Jamaica and San Domingo, and 
unpleasant experiences in individual cases, made him be- 

iiJanson, p. 358; Lambert, II, 170; Hamilton, II, 227-229; Hall, 
B., Ill, 188; Neilson, p. 326. 

12 Hamilton, II, 225; also D'Arusmont, pp. 52-53. 

13 Hall, r., Appendix, p. 251; Hall, B., Ill, 159; Finch, pp. 236, 
240. 



SLAVERY 127 

lieve that the blacks must be kept wholly under his control 
if they were to be restrained at all.^* In Northern l30oks 
written since the Civil War, this danger is minimized, but 
to the planter and his family it seemed very real, and con- 
stituted the primary reason for the stringent laws that 
governed slaves in the Southern states. This severity ex- 
tended to legislation against the free negro, who seemed a 
serious menace because of his half-assimilated ideas of 
freedom and equality, his smattering of education, and his 
consequent influence on the enslaved population. It was 
the fear of a possible negro insurrection that prompted 
the following law, quoted by English travellers from the 
Georgia statute books, but representing a type of legisla- 
tion that prevailed in all the states: — ''Any slave or free 
person of color or any other person, circulating papers or 
bringing into this state, or aiding in any manner in bringing 
into the state, papers for the purpose of exciting to insur- 
rection, conspiracy or resistance among the slaves or free 
persons of color, against owners, or the citizens, is to be 
punished with death." ^^ Harriet Martineau says that 
upon the vaguest suspicion people travelling through the 
country were fined, flogged, or imprisoned on the charge 
of trying to arouse an insurrection. ''It was declared by 
some liberal-minded gentlemen of South Carolina after the 
publication of Dr. Channing 's work on Slavery that if Dr. 
Channing were to enter South Carolina with a body-guard 
of 20,000 men, he could not come out alive." ^^ « Committees 
of Vigilance throughout the South helped to enforce laws 

14 For surmises as to slave insurrections, see Alexander, II, 19; 
Janson, p. 361; Bristed, p. 149; Holmes, p. 239; Candler, p. 270; 
Ferrall, p. 196; Melish, I, 377; Blane, p. 208 ff., 214 ff.; Duncan, 
II, 332; Hall, B., Ill, 242. 

15 Stuart, II, 86; Hall, B., Ill, 254. 

16 Martineau, II, 133-134. 



128 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

against the spread of anti-slavery doctrines, in spite of the 
theoretical freedom of speech set forth in all the state con- 
stitutions. 

Sedulously did the slave owner protect his negroes from 
the disturbing influence of education. Many travellers 
mention the fact that in most of the Southern states, teach- 
ing a slave or free negro to read or write was punished 
by imprisonment and a fine not exceeding $500, if the 
offender were white, by fines and whipping if he were a 
slave or freedman.^^ A law which prevailed in the Caro- 
linas, and which aroused a great deal of comment from for- 
eigners, contained the following clause: *'And whereas 
cruelty is not only highly unbecoming in those who profess 
themselves Christians, but is odious in the eyes of all men 
who have any sense of virtue or humanity, therefore, to re- 
strain and prevent barbarity from being exercised toward 
slaves, be it enacted. That any person wilfully murder- 
ing a slave shall forfeit 700 pounds currency, and if any 
person shall on a sudden heat or passion or by undue cor- 
rection kill his own slave or slave of another person he 
shall forfeit 350 pounds currency." This law one author 
characterizes as *'an exquisite specimen of that legislative 
cant and cruelty with which the governments of all nations 
from time to time edify their country and mankind. "^^ 
A slave-owner could not torture his negroes under pen- 
alty of $200 fine,^^ and in some places premeditated 
murder carried with it loss of right to hold any office, 
civil or military, in the state. These enactments, theo- 
retically at least, protected the person of the slave — in other 
respects he was but a chattel of his master. It was no- 

17 See, for instance, Ferrall, p. 197; Hall, B,, III, 254; Stuart, 
II, 85-86; Martineau, II, 131. 

18 Hall, F., Appendix, pp. 253-254. 
"Martineau, II, 131 (note). 



SLAVERY 129 

tieed that he had no right to benefit of trial by jury, and 
that his evidence was never accepted against a white person, 
though he could testify against one of his own color without 
oath.2o 

But it was the free blacks in the South who were seen 
to be limited by the most severe restrictions of law. It 
has before been intimated that they were looked upon with 
dread by the average Southerner. It was this fear that 
had finally induced the slave states to consent to the prohi- 
bition of importation of slaves, to take effect Jan. 1, 1808. 
For the four preceding years, merchants were preparing 
for it, and such large importations took place that the 
market was glutted. Lambert gives the following informa- 
tin concerning the numbers imported into Charleston 
alone :^^ 

1804 5,386 

1805 6,790 

1806 11,458 

1807 15,676 



39,310 



By 1808, the states that had formerly objected to the 
abolition of the foreign trade were quite willing to agree 
to it, it was said, as the practice of permitting great num- 
bers of freedmen from the West Indies to pour into the 
coast cities of the United States, was dangerous because of 
their influence on the native slaves. Many accounts are 
given of the threatened insurrection in Charleston in May, 
1822, which led to hasty and severe legislation on the part 
of South Carolina. In the investigation that took place, it 
was found that aid had been sought in San Domingo, and 
that letters had been carried back and forth by free negroes 

20 Hall, F., Appendix, p. 253. 21 Lambert, II, 165. 



130 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

on the ships visiting Charleston. A new law was there- 
fore put into effect that as soon as a ship entered a port 
of South Carolina with a free negro on board, the latter 
should be seized. ''The sheriff must board the vessel, 
drag the negro to the jail and keep him there till the ship 
had cleared out and was ready to sail. Then the [ship] 
master must pay all costs of detention and carry the man 
away, or he would become liable to a fine of $1000 or im- 
prisonment for two months and the negro would be sold 
as a slave. "2^ It was noted that in 1829 Georgia made 
laws to the same effect, subjecting to a forty days' quaran- 
tine any ship which should enter her ports having on 
board a free negro employed as steward, mariner, or in 
any other capacity. 

Observers tell how desperately each state tried to keep 
the free colored people outside her boundaries.^^ In Vir- 
ginia, a master who freed slaves had to remove them at 
once from the state, and no negro set free in another part 
of the country was allowed on Virginia territory. The lat- 
ter enactment was also in force in Louisiana, in South 
Carolina, and in Delaware. In the last-mentioned state, 
if an offender were seized, he was made to pay a fine; 
failing this, he was sold into bondage. By fines and im- 
prisonments for vagrancy and other minor offenses, Mary- 
land tried to discourage freedmen from settling within her 
borders. In some states, Tennessee, for .instance, freedom 
papers must be registered — any free negro or mulatto in 
any of the slave-holding states might be sold into slavery 
if he could not prove his freedom by documentary evi- 
dence. He was of course not allowed to be taught to read 
or to write. Attempts at schools were broken up and 
teachers and pupils flogged. In some states, freedmen 

22 Stuart, II, 72; Neilson, pp. 294-295. 

23 Stuart, II, 80; D'Arusmont, p. 383. 



SLAVERY 131 

could not assemble in numbers greater than seven, could 
not have their own churches, or could not buy or sell in 
places outside the community in which they lived. Muni- 
cipalities followed the example of the state in restraining 
this despised class. James Stuart says that the City Coun- 
cil of Savannah, about 1830, passed a law imposing a tax 
of $100 on free persons of color coming to that city.^* In 
Charleston, a military police seized every man of color on 
the street after dark; if he were without a pass, he was 
punished. ^^ In any city in the South, it was said, he was 
fair game for kidnappers, who on the slightest provocation, 
and often without any excuse at all, seized him and sold 
him into slavery. Despised in the North, and hated and 
feared in the South, the free negro enjoyed no enviable 
existence. The question of what to do with him became 
an extremely embarrassing one throughout the country — 
a question which was not satisfactorily answered by the 
Civil War. 

The attempt to solve this problem led to the adoption of 
a radical scheme for the removal of this undesirable class, 
which was rapidly increasing, and which it was evident 
could never be amalgamated with the white race. This 
was colonization, that is, transporting the free negro to 
some other part of the country or to some distant land, 
thereby both removing the menace of his presence and 
letting him develop according to his own nature. Travel- 
lers tell us much about this movement.-^ There was some 
discussion, they say, as to whether a tract of Western ter- 

24 Stuart, II, 80. 

25 Hall, F., pp. 254-255; Holmes, p. 329; Finch, p. 329; Alex- 
ander, II, 25-26. 

26 For general discussion of colonization, see Duncan, II, 261 ; 
Abdy, I, 125 flf.; Mackenzie, pp. 207-210; Hodgson, I, 15-17; Stuart, 
II, 43 ff.j Boardman, p. 247 ff. 



132 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

ritory might not be set aside for the freedman's use with 
advantage, but this idea was soon shown to be wholly im- 
practicable. Not only would there be danger of the ne- 
gro's refusing to remain in the West, but it was also very 
evident that he was unfitted to perform the strenuous 
labor that was called for in beginning a new life there. 
There seemed to be a peculiar fitness in returning him to 
Africa, his native country, and the experiment took that 
direction. Many prominent citizens of slave states were 
promoters of the movement, out of which grew an or- 
ganization called "The American Society for the Coloniza- 
tion of the Free People of Color of the United States." It 
is said to have met at first with opposition from the very 
class for whose benefit the movement was initiated. The 
free blacks. Englishmen said, had no confidence in their 
benefactors and imagined that they were to be decoyed 
to sea, to be sold ultimately to the Spanish colonies.^'' 
Moreover, they did not wish to leave the United States and 
begged that lands be given them in the far West. But 
the whites were obdurate, and as the exile was to be purely 
voluntary on the part of the negroes, the scheme of coloniza- 
tion might have failed for lack of experimentative material 
had not Georgia come to the rescue with some confiscated 
slaves that had been smuggled into her territory contrary 
to the law of 1807. These she was accustomed to sell for 
the benefit of the state. In 1830, James Stuart, who in- 
vestigated the question of colonization during a visit to 
Washington, found that in the fourteen years since the 
society was founded, it had expended the relatively small 
sum of 27,000 pounds sterling, yet had succeeded in estab- 
listing a flourishing colony of 2000 emancipated slaves. 
By that time auxiliary societies had been founded in 
various parts of the United States, and an annual conven- 
27 Hodgson, I, 17; Abdy, I, 127-128. 



SLAVERY 133 

tion was held in Washington. For seven pounds, ten shill- 
ings the society was enabled, Stuart says, not only to 
''secure the freedom of a slave and pay his passage to 
Liberia, but constitute him a freeholder of 30 acres of 
fertile land." He also says that Henry Clay, in address- 
ing the auxiliary society of Kentucky in 1829, regretted that 
the means were inadequate to accommodate all who were 
willing and anxious to go, though the expense of trans- 
portation and subsistence during the voyage was reduced 
to $20. He estimated that one million dollars applied an- 
nually during a period of sixty or seventy years for the 
purposes of the society, would eventually rid the country of 
the whole colored population.^^ 

On this movement English writers took sides. Those 
who were avowedly philanthropic and whose first interest 
was the welfare of the negro, bitterly opposed it. "The 
American helots," said Abdy, ''are goaded with prejudice 
and proscription into 'voluntary' exile, and are shipped 
off by their Christian brethren for a distant shore to strug- 
gle with a tropical sun, a barbarous people and a pestilen- 
tial climate. All this is done that the increase of the black 
population may be kept down to that exact point which 
shall quiet the fears and secure the profits of the slave- 
holder ; while the New Englander lends his aid to this cruel 
policy and talks about abolishing slavery with the same 
self-complacent inconsistency with which the philanthropist 
sweetens his tea with free-labor sugar, while he lulls his 
cares with the fumes of slave-grown tobacco. ... To say 
that these people are 'willing' emigrants to Africa is to 
acknowledge that they are driven by injustice and cruelty 
from America. ' ' ^^ 

Even those who took a more charitable view of the 
scheme, and who thought the founders "well-meaning" 

28 Stuart, II, 43-44. 29 Abdy, I, 127-128. 



134 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

and truly benevolent, still regarded the whole idea as 
visionary and chimerical, and rather calculated to per- 
petuate than to extinguish slavery.^^^ This feeling was 
heightened by the prevalent opinion that the blacks pre- 
ferred to stay in the United States. Some few visitors 
were willing to take the word of the Society that the 
scheme was practicable, and to leave the result to the 
future.^^ 

As a matter of fact, most visiting Englishmen lost sight 
of the real object of the Society, which was simply to re- 
move the free negro from the United States. The organiza- 
tion was frankly not for the abolition of slavery nor for 
the amelioration of the condition of the negro. There was 
no hatred of the blacks in the attitude of the founders of 
the Society, though there may have been lack of broad 
outlook and of humanitarianism. They simply wished 
to rid themselves and the country of a people whom The 
African Repository^ the official paper of the organiza- 
tion, characterized in its first number as follows: '' . . . 
a class among us introduced by violence, notoriously ig- 
norant, degraded and miserable, mentally diseased, broken- 
spirited, acted upon by no motives to honorable exertions, 
scarcely reached in their debasement by the heavenly 
light. " ^^ In dealing with the problem, the Americans, 
Northern and Southern, were overcome by a sense of utter 
helplessness; this seemed the only way open to them — 
a fact which few casual visitors understood or ap- 
preciated, j^. I :_ ,^X. ,;,. :: I : 

Regarding, the personal treatment of the slaves by their 
owners, there is mtich said that (is contradictor^^ and con- 
fusing.; The truth is that there were good masters and 

30 Duncan, II, 261; Boardman, p. 249; Tudor, II, 77. 

31 D'Arusmont, p. 51; Hodgson, I, 16. 

32 See "African Repository," I, 68. 



SLAVERY 135 

bad, and slaves happy and unhappy in their condition. 
Many travellers, under the influence of the hospitality dis- 
pensed to them by Southerners, sought to make light of 
the personal indignities suffered by the negro, though they 
almost universally disapproved of slavery as an institu- 
tion.^^ Many, on the other hand, repeated shocking stories 
which they had heard of the great cruelty with which the 
slaves were treated. Though very few of these atrocities 
were actually witnessed by the visitor, it is probable that 
such barbarities did sometimes occur.^* For instance, Lam- 
bert tells us, "A lady at Sullivan's Island (S. C.) is said 
to have assisted her husband in whipping their negro to 
such a degree that his back was completely raw ; not think- 
ing he had been sufficiently punished, they applied a 
pickle of pepper and salt to his wounds, and the miserable 
wretch died a few hours after in the most excruciating tor- 
tures." The first volume of The American Museum 
gave an account of a Virginia slave who for some offense 
was imprisoned in a cage hung from the branches of a 
lofty tree and left to die of hunger and thirst, the birds of 
prey meanwhile feeding upon his quivering flesh. This 
was a favorite story among travellers.^^ Southern state 
laws exacted penalties for maiming a slave or otherwise 
cruelly using him, cutting out the tongue, dismembering, 
and other tortures of various kinds. These atrocities must 
therefore have been common enough, it was said, to call 
for legislation concerning them.^^ Hodgson mentions the 
frequent shooting of slaves for attempted escape. He tells 
of a conversation with a young planter not yet twenty-two 

33 See, for instance, Hall, B., Ill, 77 ff. 

34 Lambert, II, 172; Janson, p. 376; Fearon, pp. 239-240; Davis, 
J., pp. 100-101; Martineau, II, 113; Faux, p. 73. 

35 This story was first told by Crevecoeur. See, Bristed, p. 425. 
86 Hall, F., p. 254; Wilson, C. H., Appendix, p. 97. 



136 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

years old, ' ' whose general manners bespoke mildness rather 
than the contrary," yet to the Englishman's surprise he 
had within a year deliberately shot one of his slaves for 
running away. No notice was taken of the murder. An- 
other planter made a '* frolic" for his friends to hunt two 
runaway negroes.^^ There are frequent accounts of the 
burning of slaves for rebellion or murder. No English 
traveller seems to have actually witnessed such executions, 
although they were public, but they were usually careful 
to give authority for the statement that such things did 
happen.^^ The worst atrocities w^ere said to take place 
near the coast-line where the negroes were employed on 
the rice and sugar plantations. Here their labor was 
perforce of the most wearing kind and their food of the 
poorest, as the plantation did not of course feed those who 
lived on it. It was estimated that in the rice swamps the 
stock of negroes had to be replaced every seven years, so 
high was the mortality. Even in these places, however, it 
was to the interest of the owner to treat his slaves as hu- 
manely as possible.^^ On the inland plantations, partic- 
ularly on those where the slaves were handed down from 
one generation to another, a quite different state of affairs 
was seen to prevail.*^ The health and happiness of the 
servile class were usually considered; the master assumed 
a patriarchal relation to them, and they, in their turn, re- 
garded him and his family with affection and devotion. 
Especially did the domestic slaves usually enjoy the best 

87 Hodgson, I, 186; also 189. 

38Melish, I, 31; Lambert, II, 173; Hodgson, I, 188; Abdy, I, 385- 
388; Neilson, pp. 290-291; Martineau, I, 374. 

39 See account of life on a South Carolina plantation, Hodgson, 

I, 45-46; Neilson, p. 289. 

« Murray, I, 120-122; Hall, B., Ill, 224 flf., also 172 flf.; Martineau, 

II, 107; Mrs. Trollope, II, 49-50. 



SLAVERY 137 

of treatment — everywhere throughout the slave states their 
lot seemed to the foreigner the most enviable."*^ 

No matter how fortunate a slave might be, there was 
one factor in his existence that, to the mind of the on-looker, 
must prevent his feeling anything but degraded, — that was 
the consciousness that he, at best, was but a slave, the 
property of another human being, and could be bought 
and sold as such.*^ That this fact determined the negro's 
psychology and contributed largely to his personal deg- 
radation, is very evident. No matter how high his personal 
ideals were, he could never rise above the fact that he 
was a chattel. No matter what attachments he had formed, 
he was liable to be separated at any moment from those he 
loved, and sold into another part of the country .^^ This 
was the fear that, by tradition, haunted every slave north 
of Louisiana — a fear so great that many negroes, travellers 
said, took refuge in suicide as a lesser evil.^* It stood to 
reason that the more Southern states, because they worked 
their slaves so exhaustingly, required frequent replenish- 
ment of their stock. After the abolition of the African 
slave trade, though a certain amount of illegal traffic was 
carried on for many years, the more Southern coast-line 
states had to depend on their Northern neighbors, Virginia, 
Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Ten- 
nessee, to recruit their supply of laborers, as their own 
condition precluded the breeding of sufficient negroes.*^ 
The interstate slave trade thus became a thriving business 
in many localities. This was the subject of much interest- 
ing comment. Take the case of Virginia, for instance. 

41 See Hall, F., p. 256; Finch, p. 238; Hodgson, I, 25-26; Neilson, 
p. 289. 

*2 Candler, p. 268; Hall, B., Ill, 183-184; Mrs. Trollope, II, 50. 

43 Boardman, p. 245 ; Mrs. Trollope, II, 50 ; Hodgson, I, 194. 

4* See, for instance, Hodgson, I, 195. 

45 Alexander, II, 25; Candler, p. 277; Hall, B., Ill, 196. 



138 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

She was said to pride herself on her reputation for humane 
treatment of the negroes,*^ Her agriculture, carried on by- 
slave labor, declined steadily for many years. Abdy quotes 
an article in The American Quarterly Review of 1832 which 
said that the whole agricultural produce of the state at 
that time did not exceed in value the exports of eighty or 
ninety years before, when the state contained not one-sixth 
of its population and when not one-third of the surface was 
occupied.*^ In this predicament, she and her sister states 
who were suffering the same embarrassment, bred great 
numbers of slaves. Some of these were hired out in the 
cities as servants in private families and in hotels.*^ We 
are told by Lambert: ** Those who are unable to give 500 
or 600 dollars for a slave, which is the usual price of a 
good one, generally hire them by the month or year of 
people who are in the habit of keeping a number of slaves 
for that purpose. Many persons obtain a handsome living 
by letting out their slaves for 6 to 10 dollars per month. 
They also send them out to sell oysters, fruit, millinery, 
etc., or as carmen and porters. The slaves who are brought 
up to any trade or profession are let out as journeymen, 
and many of them are so extremely clever and expert that 
they are considered worth two or three thousand dollars. ' ' *^ 
The other alternative to which Virginia especially re- 
sorted to fill her empty treasury was the internal slave 
trade, with what profit may be estimated by the fact that 
in 1829 the annual revenue from it was said to be a mil- 
lion and a half dollars. By 1836, according to The Vir- 
ginia Times, it had leaped to $24,000,000. Eighty thou- 
sand slaves were taken out of the state in that year by mas- 

46 See Birkbeck, "Notes on a Journey," pp. 21-22; D'Arusmont, 
p. 382; Palmer, p. 153; Candler, p. 269; Bristed, p. 425. 

47 See Abdy, II, 247. 

■*8Boardman, p. 245; Lambert, II, 163-164; Hodgson, II, 86-88; 
Stuart, II, 125. 49 Lambert, II, 164. 



SLAVERY 139 

ters settling in other parts of the country ; 40,000 were sold 
to dealers.^*^ The numbers were swelled by the plantation 
incorrigibles who were sold * ' down the river ' ' at high prices 
with fictitious recommendations, and by the kidnapped free 
blacks who had fallen a prey to the avaricious dealer. ^^ 

At certain seasons of the year the roads and the steam- 
boats were filled with large companies of slaves on their 
way to be "sold South." They were bought by regular 
dealers or agents, who drove them in gangs chained to- 
gether. It was the sight of these groups of unfortunates 
that aroused the greatest indignation and sympathy in the 
English visitor and called forth many a protest. **In 
God's name," cries one, "let this unhallowed traffic be 
put a stop to. Let not men's eyes be shocked with a sight 
so atrocious ! " ^^ If there was a sadder spectacle to English 
eyes than this, it was that of the slave market where human 
beings were exposed for sale.^^ Foreigners were always 
shocked to witness this kind of transaction, and the sight 
of a slave-auction often changed their whole attitude toward 
the institution. From the many accounts of such sales, one 
has been chosen as typical. "There are slave-auctions al- 
most every day in the New Orleans Exchange. I was fre- 
quently present at these, and the man who wants an ex- 
cuse for misanthropy will nowhere discover better reason 
for hating and despising his species. The usual process 
differs in nothing from that of selling a horse. The poor 
object of traffic is mounted on a table, intending purchasers 

eo See Niles* Register, LI, 83. 

51 Hodgson, I, 195; Alexander, II, 25-26. 

52 Hamilton, II, 222 (quotation); Melish, II, 95; Hall, B., Ill, 
197; Pahner, pp. 142-143. 

53 For accounts of slave auctions, see Ferrall, p. 193 ff.; Birkbeck, 
"Notes on a Journey," p. 21; Abdy, III, 13; Hodgson, I, 55; Hall, 
B., Ill, 143-145, also 35 ff.; TtidoV, II, 68; Hamilton, II, 216 ff.; 
Harris^ W. T., p. 49; Stuart, II, 74; Neilson, pp. 284-288. 



140 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

examine his points and put questions as to his age, health, 
etc. The auctioneer dilates on his value, enumerates his 
accomplishments, and when the hammer at length falls, 
protests in the usual phrase that poor Sambo has been ab- 
solutely thrown away. When a woman is sold, he usually 
puts his audience in good humor by a few indecent 
jokes. "«* 

The general effect of this treatment was seen to be to 
reduce the negro to the status of a brute. The degradation 
of his position was manifest to the sympathetic visitor.^^ 
He could claim no rights ; even the few he was supposed to 
have were purely theoretical. It was no wonder, English- 
men said, that he had no incentive to labor or to live for 
anything beyond the passing moment. He was often not 
allowed to marry, but was encouraged to form loose rela- 
tions with the women of his people. Manifestly, few up- 
lifting influences entered his life, even in the home where 
he was kindly treated. His religion was looked upon as a 
mere fabric of superstition and emotionalism. We cannot 
wonder that the constant complaint of the foreigner was 
that practically nothing was done for the benefit of the 
negro. Granted that slavery was a necessary evil, the 
United States had done nothing to improve the condition of 
the victims of that institution.^^ Many Englishmen be- 
lieved that the negroes were capable of being raised even 
to the intellectual and moral status of the white man, and 
refused to see any difference except in the color of the 
skin.^^ "Does a man's complexion alter his intellect?" 

B* Hamilton, II, 216. 

55 Tudor, I, 55-56; Priest, pp. 188-189, 191; Candler, pp. 2^6, 268, 
301; Neilson, p. 293; Murray, I, 124; Lambert, II, 173-175. 

66 Candler, p. 264; Hamilton, II, 219 ff. 

5T Davis, John, p. 94, also pp. 99-100; Abdy, I, 44-45; Mrs. Trol- 
lope, II, 55; D'Arusmont, p. 54; Hall, B., 1, 30; Blane, pp. 219-220. 



SLAVERY 141 

asks Blane indignantly. *'Do the abilities of a European 
whose color has been changed by a residence in Africa, of 
necessity deteriorate? That the mass of the Blacks are at 
present inferior in ability to the Whites cannot be denied, 
but why? — because they are kept enslaved both in mind 
and body, because every obstacle is thrown in the way of 
those who wish to learn reading and writing, and because 
in some of the slave states it is contrary to law to instruct 
them. How then can it be expected that any marks of 
genius should appear when their minds are under the 
domination of ignorance and their bodies under that of the 
lash?" Many travellers went so far as to insist that the 
more intelligent of the white population agreed with them ; 
that it was only the vulgar who regarded the ''accidental 
distinction" of color as a symbol of the inferiority of the 
negro.^^ It was believed that fear of the increasing num- 
bers of blacks and of their ''advancing intelligence," 
prompted the contemptuous and cruel treatment of them.^^ 
But to the mind of the European it was not the influence 
of slavery on the negro himself that was most to be feared ; 
it was the evidences of degeneration in the life of the peo- 
ple who owned him. The appalling effect of slavery on the 
whites was first set forth in the days immediately after the 
Revolution in Jefferson's "Notes on Virginia." His atti- 
tude toward this evil was quoted repeatedly by native 
Americans and by foreigners, numbers of whom regarded 
the work as an authority. Though Jefferson considered the 
negro unfit at that time for freedom, he felt deeply the un- 
happy influence that slavery exerted in the new republic. 
His opinion, though rather well-known, should perhaps be 
quoted: "The whole commerce between master and slave 
is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous passions; the 

58 Hall, B., Ill, 190-191; D'Arusmont, p. 54. 

59 Abdy, I, 45. 



142 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

most unremitting despotism on the one part and the most 
degrading submission on the other. Our children see this 
and learn to imitate it. . . . The parent storms, the child 
looks on, catches the lineaments of wrath, puts on the same 
airs in the circle of younger slaves, gives a loose to his worst 
passions and thus nursed, educated and daily exercised in 
tyranny, cannot but be stamped with its odious peculiari- 
ties. The man must indeed be a prodigy who can retain his 
manners and morals undepraved by such circumstances. . . . 

' ' With the morals of the people, their industry also is de- 
stroyed. For in a warm climate, no man will labour for 
himself who can make another labour for him. This is so 
true that of the proprietors of slaves, a very small propor- 
tion indeed are ever seen to labour. I tremble for my coun- 
try when I reflect that God is just, that his justice cannot 
sleep forever . . . . " ^^ 

These views of Jefferson's were corroborated by those 
who were not affected by the institution and who could thus 
view the matter impartially. It was asserted by travellers 
that the farther South one w^ent, the more languid and in- 
active-looking did the people become. They laid the blame, 
not on the climate, but on slavery.*^^ Candler says too that 
he could tell at once when he had passed from Pennsyl- 
vania into Maryland, so great was the change in the ap- 
pearance of the country. Instead of the neat farms and 
substantial houses with gardens which he had just left, he 
saw on all sides slovenly, ill-built dwellings with negro huts 
little better than pig-sties. The roads were bad and there 
were no bridges over the streams; there was no attractive 
village life, few churches and those very poor, — in short, 
no signs of the busy, progressive existence that he had seen 

60 Jefferson, "Notes on Virginia" (1788 ed.), pp. 172-173; quoted 
by Blane, pp. 206-207; also by Melish, I, 239 S. 

61 Stuart, II, 60; Candler, p. 249 ff.; Hamilton, II, 159. 



SLAVERY 143 

in Pennsylvania. Harriet Martineau tells of what South 
Carolina should be, with its rich soil, full streams, fertile 
bottoms, fine trees, etc., and what it was under the influ- 
ence of slavery, with its roads nearly impassable, its lands 
exhausted, and its villages and towns rude in character.^^ 
Even the conveyances that one met on the roads of the 
South proclaimed that one was among a slave-holding pop- 
ulation. Whereas in the Northern states, it was said, there 
could usually be seen great numbers of fine fat horses draw- 
ing stout, well-made wagons, in the South no such thing 
was to be met with. Sometimes a traveller saw a ragged 
black boy or girl driving an ill-assorted team of a cow and 
a mule which was pulling a wretchedly-constructed wagon, 
and he was quite likely to declare that this was the typical 
conveyance of the slave-holding state.^^ 

Slavery was said to act as a check to the building of 
towns and villages because it prevented demand for labor 
and merchandise.^* A man's slaves were fed and clothed 
in the coarsest and cheapest manner ; they lived of course 
on the master's plantation; they sold and bought nothing. 
All industries were carried on by slaves within the limits 
of the plantation. The deadening economic effect of such 
a system was obvious. 

There is no doubt that slavery was considered a cause of 
deterioration in the morale of the community. Even if 
there had been only the effect of the loss of industry which 
Jefferson deplored, the situation would have been seen to 
be serious enough. Accustomed to look upon all labor as 
the office of a servile class, the slave-holder came to despise 
work.65 rpjjg^g ^^^^ foreigners who considered that this re- 
sulted ultimately for the good of the country, as it produced 
a leisure class with time enough to give serious attention 
62 Martineau, I, 75. 63 See Sutcliffe, p. 99. 6*Blane p 202 

65 Duncan, II, 259; Bristed, p. 388; Candler, pp. 252-254.' 



144 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

to politics and statecraft. Note, they said, the services to 
the country of such men as Washington and Jefferson, both 
of whom belonged to slave-holding families. But this ad- 
vantage was, in the minds of most people, more than offset 
by the decline in personal morality in the South. It was 
regretted that children were brought up in close intercourse 
with a race that possessed no standards of decency by which 
to regulate actions or conversation. Over this servile class 
they had unlimited opportunity for tyranny and injustice 
which was seldom punished by their elders.^^ Travellers 
even found a reason for the greater amount of swearing 
that one noticed in the South in the constant "lording it 
over slaves. ' ' ^^ The undeniable habit of miscegenation be- 
tween the races, and the sanction given it, were producing, 
it was feared, a class of young men with unbridled passions 
and lax views of right and wrong; it was also producing a 
race of long-suffering white women whose personal virtue 
and purity were conceded, perhaps by contrast, to be above 
the average.^^ Slavery produced an inability to compre- 
hend human rights, and a torpor and indifference to the 
sight of human suffering. Several travellers intimate that 
women slave-holders were at times more cruel than men, 
and even little children ordered or inflicted punishment on 
slaves who had angered them. It was this insensibility to 
the rights of the negro as a human being that it was feared 
The problem of freeing the land from the grasp of this 
would eventually produce a race of self-centred, tyrannical, 
despotic people.^^ 

66Birkbeck, "Letters from Illinois," p. 72; Martineau, II, 128- 
129; Flint, J., p. 142. 

67 See Stuart, II, 61. 

68 Duncan, II, 259; Sutcliffe, p. 53; Candler, p. 267; Martineau, 
II, 120; Holmes, p. 327. 

69 Martineau, II, 129; Neilson, p. 292. 



SLAVERY 145 

octopus which threatened to destroy it, was, as has been 
said before, regarded with hopeless pessimism by most 
Americans, especially those in the slave states. Foreign 
visitors were more sanguine ; they were eager to give advice 
on the subject, though they confessed themselves dismayed 
by the conditions which they witnessed. Some Englishmen 
expressed impatience with the hopeless attitude of the 
Americans. If the policy of the United States continued 
to be to keep her negroes in constant degradation and ig- 
norance, how were they ever to attain to that grade of intel- 
ligence which would mark them as fit for personal liberty? 
If America sincerely wished to free her slaves, she was 
thus defeating her own ends. That something should be 
done at once was the general opinion. **The disease is 
deeply rooted,'* said Murray, *'its ramifications extend 
even to the vitals of the body-politic, and the remedies to 
be applied are proportionately difficult and dangerous; but 
they must be applied, and that too at no distant date, or 
the gangrene will have spread beyond the reach of medi- 
cine. "^° Birkbeck, who abhorred slavery, warned the 
country that * * . . . a remedy, mild as the case will admit, 
must be applied by a wise and strong legislature ; or some 
dreadful eruption will bring about a cure, arising out of 
the evil itself. "^^ 

Very few believed that a sudden and general emancipa- 
tion would improve matters. '*I look upon slaves," said 
one Englishman, '*as public securities, and I am of opinion 
that a legislature's enacting laws for their emancipation is 
as flagrant a piece of injustice as would be the cancelling 
of the public debt. Slave-holders are only share-holders, 
and philanthropists should never talk of liberating slaves 
more than cancelling public securities, without being pre- 

70 Murray, II, 203-204. 

71 Birkbeck, "Letters from Illinois," p. 72. 



146 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

pared to indemnify those persons who unfortunately have 
their capital invested in this species of property."^- The 
evil to be feared from emancipation was not confined by 
observers to the pecuniary loss. No man could foresee the 
consequences of suddenly freeing these vast numbers of 
ignorant, emotional, and easily-influenced human beings. 
In some states they outnumbered the whites, upon whom 
they might reasonably be supposed to take vengeance if 
the opportunity were offered."^^ This side of the question, 
however, did not occupy the mind of the foreigner so much 
as it did that of the American slave-owner, with whom it 
was a very serious consideration. Most travellers were 
rather inclined to look at the whole problem from the point 
of view of the negroes. 

To the latter as well, a general emancipation, it was said, 
would bring ruin."^* They w^ere obviously unfit for freedom. 
For generations they had been governed by a superior will ; 
every act had been ordered for them; no incentive except 
the lash had stimulated them to industry. The result of 
freedom on this undeveloped, demoralized class would be to 
leave them helpless and bewildered. How could they be 
expected to resume at once the duties and responsibilities 
of citizens? It would be cruelty to free them, especially 
those who were fortunate enough to have kind masters. In 
short, from the point of view of both master and slave, 
immediate manumission was seen to be impracticable, and 
the question was looked upon as the "most profitless of all 
possible subjects of conversation." 

What plan then was to be adopted, and how was the 
government to steer a middle course between slavery and 

72Ferrall, p. 203; also Hall, B., Ill, 160-161; Duncan, II, 253. 
73 Brothers, Thos., p. 196; Janson, p. 358; Neilson, p. 297. 
74Bristed, pp. 388-392; Brothers, p. 196; Hall, B., Ill, 160-161, 
also 204; Duncan, II, 253. 



SLAVERY 147 

freedom ? It is evident that the Americans themselves tried 
desperately to solve the problem of making their burden as 
light as possible. ''Almost every gentleman I met with in 
the South," says one traveller, ''had some project or other 
for mitigating the national oppression arising from this in- 
cubus, as they frequently called it, or believed he had dis- 
covered some nostrum for removing a great portion of its 
bad effects. "^^ Niles' Weekly Register for some time 
urged upon the American people a scheme for the annual 
expatriation of certain numbers of young female negroes 
to check the increasing black population. This aroused the 
ire of philanthropic Englishmen. The plan was designated 
as "an atrocious suggestion which involves so much inhu- 
manity in the expedient recommended, and so much demor- 
alization in the results, that we are at a loss to decide which 
most deserves our reprobation, the writer of such an article, 
or the people to whom it is addressed. ' '^^ 

One suggestion offered by observing Englishmen was the 
gradual education of the negro in the uses of liberty.'^^ This 
scheme would be rendered easier by the fact that the im- 
portation of African slaves was stopped, and the negroes 
now spoke a common language and were brought up under 
more unified conditions. By the gradual spread of educa- 
tion, each generation would take a slightly higher place in 
the scale of society than the preceding one had enjoyed. 

Closely connected with this idea was the expedient of re- 
ducing the ranks of the slaves by legislation, or by what 
one author calls "timely expedients."'^ Emancipation by 
degrees had worked well in other places ; why would it not 

75 Hall, B., Ill, 204. 

76 Abdy, I, 49. 

77 Duncan, II, 254; Tudor, II, 74-75; Candler, p. 264; Hall, B., 
Ill, 233. 

78 Tudor, II, 74-75; Candler, p. 271; Duncan, II, 256; Hodgson, 
I, 198-199. 



148 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

succeed throughout the United States? Were there no 
instances of its practicability in the history of the South 
American provinces, ''none in the gradual revolutions of 
society in Great Britain herself?" The method used by 
the Northern states was urged as an example to be followed 
by slave-owners, sometimes without an adequate apprecia- 
tion of the difference between Northern and Southern con- 
ditions. 

Murray says that the only proposal which ever assumed 
definite shape before the legislature was that made by Mr. 
King in the Senate in 1825. It was to the effect that ''as 
soon as that portion of the funding debt for the payment 
of which the public land was pledged, should be paid off, 
the whole remaining public land with the moneys arising 
from future sales thereof, should form a fund for the 
gradual extinction of slavery by the purchase and emanci- 
pation of slaves, their removal to other regions, etc. ' ' This 
plan is supposed to have been favored by Chief Justice 
Marshall, himself a citizen of a slave-holding state. ' ' Why, ' * 
asks the Englishman, "now that the debt has been 
liquidated, has the above proposal never been revived or 
discussed ? ' ''^^ 

We have thus seen that slavery in America was to the 
Englishman an evil which could not long endure without 
danger to the country. Something must be done about it, 
or the United States must expect to face not only economic 
ruin, but the contempt of the other civilized nations. Moral 
enlightenment was the chief desideratum for the governing 
class. When the United States should sacrifice her hopes 
of immediate gain, in other words, overcome her cupidity, 
and should regard her black population in the light of 
human beings, her first steps would be taken toward freeing 
herself of the evil. 

79 Murray, II, 204-205. 



CHAPTER VI 

AGRICULTURE, MANUFACTURE AND INDUSTRY 

Agriculture is obviously the most necessary and popular 
occupation of the settlers of a new country. It is only 
after the food supply of a family or a community is assured 
that the members turn to the satisfying of other needs less 
imperative in their demands. At the close of the Revolu- 
tion and for a great many years afterward, the necessity 
for agricultural labor made the inhabitants of the United 
States oblivious to the interests of any other means of live- 
lihood, and retarded the growth of the manufacture of 
articles which the Americans for a long time imported 
cheerfully from other parts of the world. 

A convention was held in Philadelphia in 1787 to inquire 
on what principles a commercial system for the United 
States was to be founded. In the resolutions adopted, agri- 
culture was designated as the spring of American commerce 
and the parent of American manufactures. Almost fifty 
years later, an English traveller notices that this attitude 
towards the land remains unchanged. "The possession of 
land is the aim of all action, generally speaking, and the 
cure of all social evils among men in the United States. If 
a man is disappointed in politics or love, he goes and buys 
land. If he disgraces himself, he betakes himself to a lot 
in the West. If the demand for any article of manufacture 
slackens, the operatives drop into the unsettled lands. If 

149 



150 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

a citizen 's neighbors rise above him in the towns, he betakes 
himself where he can be monarch of all he surveys. An 
artisan works that he may die on land of his own. He is 
frugal that he may enable his son to be a land-owner. 
Farmers' daughters go into factories that they may clear 
off the mortgage from their fathers' farms, that they may 
be independent landowners again. ' ' ^ 

The interest in tilling the soil was heightened by the 
generous policy of the new government in regard to the 
sale of public lands. Ouseley gives us the best English ac- 
count of this. About 1800, the land system went into ef- 
fect, a system which was much admired by foreigners. All 
new public lands were surveyed accurately by the govern- 
ment; they were then divided into townships of thirty-six 
square miles, and sub-divided into sections of 640 acres 
each. One section in each township was reserved from sale 
for the support of education ; the rest was sold to whoever 
wished to buy. Until 1820, credit was given on purchases 
of public lands, but so many people bought on speculation 
that they soon owed the government great sums of money. 
It was therefore considered advisable to substitute a cash 
payment, at the same time reducing the minimum price of 
the land from $2.00 to $1.25 an acre.^ 

In connection with the holding of land, it was noted that 
the system of rents in use in England was little employed. 
Every American wanted his own farm, and though he 
might for a time consent to work on shares the surplus 
acres of his more fortunate neighbor, his aim was invari- 
ably a place of his own which he could hand down to his 
descendants. If poverty forced him to work on shares, he 
received two-thirds of the produce if he pro\dded the labor- 

iMartineau, I, 292. 

2 Ouseley, p. 135 ff.; Birkbeck, "Notes on a Journey," pp. 70-71; 
Holmes, p. 148. 



AGRICULTURE, MANUFACTURE AND INDUSTRY 151 

ing animals and the seed, and one-third if the owner took 
that responsibility.^ 

Nothing was more evident to the foreigner than the gen- 
eral esteem in which the farmer was held and the important 
part he played in public life. He represented the most 
influential class of society, and unless he had bought rashly, 
and were ' ' land poor, ' ' his condition was one of substantial 
comfort and comparative prosperity,* Thomas Cooper 
gives us a description of an ideal farm in Pennsylvania in 
1795. The possessions of the progressive owner included, 
besides 300 acres and house and barns, a fish pond, a dis- 
tillery, an icehouse, a smokery for hams and bacon, a saw 
mill, and a grist mill. "This," Cooper says, ''is a tolerably 
fair though a favorable specimen."^ 

It was not without reason that much advice was given 
the prospective emigrant in regard to the wisdom of choos- 
ing the life of a farmer in the new world. Land, in the 
natural order of events, steadily increased in value without 
effort on the part of the o^ner, who might then by industry 
add a double profit.^ Lieut. Francis Hall applied to the 
American farmer the quotation : ' * f ortunatos nimium sua 
si bona norint, ' ' ^ while Frances Wright gushingly ex- 
claimed, ''I have seen those who have raised their voice in 
the senate of their country, and whose hands have fought 
her battles, walking beside the team and minutely direct- 
ing every operation of husbandry with the soil upon their 
garments and their countenances bronzed by the meridian 
sun. And how proudly does such a man tread his paternal 
fields, his ample domains improving under his hand; his 

3 Shirreff, p. 340. 

4 Ibid., p. 72; also Stuart, I, 170. 

5 Cooper, p. 123 ff. 

6 Ibid., p. 71. 

7 Hall, F., p. 21. 



152 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

garners full to overflowing; his table replenished with 
guests, and with a numerous offspring whose nerves are 
braced by exercise and their minds invigorated by lib- 
erty. "« 

But we must not forget, as the enthusiastic traveller 
sometimes did, that this ideal picture had another side. It 
was evident to most strangers that in a sense the position 
of the American farmer was no sinecure. In the first place, 
there was the scarcity of labor, which has already been 
emphasized. It is true that if the farmer were fortunate 
enough to get a native American to work for him, he had a 
laborer on whom he could depend. Cobbett says that the 
Americans were the best workers he ever saw. ' ' They mow 
four acres of oats, wheat, rye or barley in a day, and, with 
a cradle, lay it so smooth in the swarths, that it is tied up 
in sheaves with the greatest neatness and ease. They mow 
two acres and a half of grass in a day. And they do the 
work well."^ Added to this speed and thoroughness was 
the astonishing versatility of the average native laborer. 
He could do almost everything on a farm, from wood-chop- 
ping to shoe-making. 

Because of the scarcity of help, the farmer and his 
family were forced to become accustomed to the hardest 
kind of manual labor.^^ They were also obliged to exist 
without many of the things which they had previously come 
to regard as the necessities of life and which were as yet 
unobtainable. J. Flint points out that in the management 
of his farm, the owner was much hampered by lack of im- 
proved machinery; his utensils w^ere crude and homemade, 
and he constantly resorted to makeshifts.^^ Many travel- 

8 D'Arusmont, p. 138. 

9 Cobbett, p. 190. 

10 See Parkinson, pp. 26-30. 

11 Flint, p. 123; also Fearon, p. 222. 



153 

lers commented on the lack of neatness and trimness of 
American farms. ''Even in Pennsylvania and among the 
Quakers, too, ' ' we are told, ' ' there is a sort of out-of-doors 
slovenliness which is never, hardly, seen in England. You 
see bits of wood, timber, boards, chips lying about here and 
there, and pigs and cattle trampling about in a sort of con- 
fusion which would make an English farmer fret himself 
to death, but which is here seen with great placidness. ' ' ^^ 
This condition was due in many cases to circumstances 
rather than to any inherent slovenliness in the owner. 

The difference in the soil of the various sections of the 
country was not at first so evident as it became later. The 
natural fertility of the land unexhausted by frequent plant- 
ing, produced abundant harvests for the first settlers. The 
test of the ground came when a rotation of crops had af- 
fected its productivity. Often this promise of rich soil 
led the pioneer astray. Timothy Dwight w^arned his fel- 
low countrymen against overestimating the value of land 
because it was covered with a thick layer of vegetable 
mould. He reminded them of the many sections of the 
country where this false promise had given way to eventual 
sterility, and of the continued disappointment which had 
accompanied the trend of settlement toward the West.^^ 
Shirreff says that the peculiarity of Indian corn, which was 
capable of being grow^n for several years on the same land 
without application of fertilizer, helped too, to give rise to 
unfounded hopes in regard to the fertility of the soil.^* 

It was universally conceded by travellers that in the 
Eastern districts where labor was more available and where 
estates numbered fewer acres, the land on the whole was 

12 Cobbett, p. 189 (quotation); Weld, I, 113-114; Martineau, I, 
338; Holmes, p. 174. 

13 Quoted by Stuart, I, 174-175. 
i4ShirreflF, p. 394. 



154 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

better cared for and consequently more productive. In the 
West, where profits were low, very little money was put 
back into the land. It was not until the vast tracts of 
Western territory were broken up into units more available 
for satisfactory cultivation that fertilization and rotation 
of crops became understood. 

Throughout the New England states, there was seen to be 
little farming on a large scale. Each state seems to have 
had as its object the feeding of its own population, with 
little regard for exportation to other countries. Melish 
tells us a great deal about New England land. He says 
that Rhode Island in 1812 was not producing enough grain 
for home consumption. Most of the New England farms, 
however, were at this time well-cultivated and produced 
the usual grain-stuffs needed by the family, as well as the 
fruits and vegetables.^^ New Hampshire fed herself only; 
Vermont, having a more generally productive soil than her 
neighbor, exported (1806-11) quantities of food-stuffs over 
the border to Canada as well as to the larger New England 
cities reached by river routes. Connecticut had a great deal 
of good land within her boundaries, and was admirably 
adapted to grazing. Farms ranged here in size from fifty to 
500 acres.^^ 

Fowler, who devotes his entire book to New York, tells 
us how diversified this state is in soil and climate; some 
travellers were inclined to prefer the eastern parts of the 
state where the climate was more temperate, but many 
praised the fertile valleys of the central and western 
parts. ^^ Even before the building of the Erie Canal, New 
York took one of the two leading places among the states; 

15 Melish, I, 78, 99, 104. 

16 Melish, I, 124-126; Palmer, p. 179; Kendall, I, 311; Candler, 
p. 12. 

17 Fowler, p. 180. 



AGRICULTURE, MANUFACTURE AND INDUSTRY 155 

with Pennsylvania she monopolized a great deal of the 
wealth ; she possessed good roads and many waterways, was 
rather thickly settled, and became known as generally pros- 
perous and progressive. In 1832, Shirreff says, a New 
York State Agricultural Society was formed, which peti- 
tioned the legislature the next year for a grant for an 
agricultural school. ^^ Long Island shared New York's 
prosperity. In 1795, it was already laid out in farms of a 
general fertility, and was noted, travellers said, for its fruit, 
particularly its apples.^^ The crops raised by the New 
York farmer, it was noticed by Stuart, were much the 
same as those grown in Great Britain, with the addition of 
corn, or maize, as it was often called. This staple article 
of diet was raised at the rate of thirty to forty bushels and 
sometimes as much as 150 bushels an acre. Wheat seems to 
have been the most valuable of the crops.^^ 

The same was true in Pennsylvania, which represented 
for a long time the most advanced state of agriculture in 
the country. Weld says that the south-eastern part was 
better cultivated when he saw it (1795-1797), than any 
other part of America. Here practically everyone who 
cultivated land owned his farm, whereas in the northern 
parts large tracts were still in the hands of speculators. 
Farming in Pennsylvania, according to Weld, was done 
with an eye to profit only. There were few gardens, as the 
labor they entailed did not balance the small profits to be 
gained from them. Vegetables were therefore scarce and of 
the poorest and coarsest quality. Indeed, there were many 
who saw infinite possibilities in Pennsylvania as an agri- 
cultural state, and regretted the lack of intensive farming 

18 Shirreff, p. 59 ff. 

isNeilson, p. 123; also 129; Shirreff, pp. 14-15. 

20 Stuart, I, 170-171. 



156 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

in many sections of her territory.^^ If from twenty to 
twenty-five bushels of wheat and from twenty-five to thirty 
of corn could be raised per acre without much labor, what 
results might a little more care and industry not bring? 
Faux says in 1820 that though the land in Pennsylvania 
was of the best quality and the best farming in the United 
States was done there, the average production of wheat was 
only sixteen bushels per acre, and that crops were very 
subject to the Hessian fly and to mildew. The price of 
machinery was so high about that time that many farmers 
were hindered by lack of proper implements.^^ The tract 
of land through which ran the thoroughfare from Phila- 
delphia to Pittsburg was called *'The Great Valley.'^ 
Fearon remarked that it shared in the general fertility, and 
abounded in ''substantial barns, fine private dwellings, 
excellent breed and condition of live stock and superior 
cultivation. ' '^^ 

Delaware and New Jersey were, according to Melish, 
similar in their agriculture to Pennsylvania and New York. 
They raised the usual grain stuffs, vegetables, and fruit. 
Both of these states raised quantities of wheat, of which 
flour was made for the export trade.^* 

Melish also tells us that a change became apparent as 
one went into the Southern states. The soil of Maryland 
was of varied character but the greater portion of it was 
poor — in the east low and sandy, with many swamps. 
There were some fertile spots in the interior.^^ Virginia 
was said to present the worst example of lack of economy 
in farming. As early as 1795 her fields were exhausted 

21 Weld, I, 112-113; Melish, I, 174; Flint, p. 82; Holmes, p. 175. 

22 Faux, p. 100; Welby, p. 323. 

23 Fearon, p. 181; Power, I, 326. 

24 Melish, I, 181. 

25 Ibid., I, 188. 



AGRICULTURE, MANUFACTURE AND INDUSTRY 157 

through the continued cultivation of tobacco. It was not 
that the tobacco plant required an extraordinary amount 
of nutriment, explained one observing Englishman, but 
the peculiar mode of cultivating it, that brought about this 
condition. It was necessary for the laborers to be walking 
about among the plants from the moment they were set out. 
The soil thus remained exposed to the sun and became hard 
and beaten down and unproductive. Then, too, the same 
piece of land was worked year after year without change 
of crops, except perhaps an occasional planting of Indian 
corn, and became totally exhausted. It was then allowed 
to grow over and often became covered with woods of a 
stunted growth. ^^ In 1824, Hodgson had a conversation 
with some members of an agricultural society in Virginia, 
in the course of which he was informed that the injurious 
effects of such a system of tobacco growing were becoming 
too obvious to be ignored, and that many were relinquish- 
ing the culture of the plant.^^ 

Cultivation of cotton in the Southern states united the 
production of a very useful and profitable commodity with 
a number of other advantages obvious both to the Southern 
planter and to the visitor. In the first place, the price that 
cotton brought was invariably high. As an article of ex- 
port either to the manufactories of the North or to foreign 
countries, it was always in demand. It gave occupation to 
the slaves of the estate during several months of the year, 
which was a desideratum, and it occupied people of all 
ages, even children of eight or nine. Then, too, it would 
grow almost anywhere, provided the climate were warm 
enough. Thirty-six degrees latitude was considered the 
northern limit for the growing of a superior grade of cot- 

26Martineau, I, 299; Weld, I, 151-152; Tudor, I, 451-452. 
27 Hodgson, I, 33. 



158 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

ton.2® It seems to have flourished in all of the Southern 
states irrespective of the quality of the land. In these 
states, it was observed that any great amount of fertility 
was limited to the river bottoms f^ along the coast the land 
was likely to be swampy and sandy. Melish says that much 
of the extent of Georgia was covered with pine barrens 
which yielded only such products as tar and turpentine.^^ 
Alabama possessed rich alluvial lands which became the 
Mecca of thousands from the impoverished neighboring 
states when that territory ceased to belong to the Indian 
reserves. It was estimated about 1835 by Tyrone Power, 
that no fewer than 10,000 families had left the Carolinas 
and Georgia during the course of one season for Ala- 
bama.^^ 

The conditions which made Louisiana an unhealthy state 
in which to live, rendered her an ideal location for the cul- 
tivation of her two great staples of commerce, cotton and 
sugar. Of the former, Tudor says, New Orleans alone ex- 
ported in a single year (1829-30) over 350,000 bales. The 
traffic in sugar was equally extensive. In a report of art 
agricultural society of Baton Rouge, which the traveller 
quotes, it was stated that ''the entire amount of sugar 
produced in Lousiana in 1828 was 88,878 hogsheads of 
1,000 lbs. each, that the number of sugar plantations was 
about 700 and the capital invested in them about $45,- 
000,000." One field hand on a well-regulated estate could 
cultivate five acres, with a result of 5,000 pounds of sugar 
worth five and a half cents a pound and 125 gallons of 

28 Bradbury, p. 277; Holmes, p. 178. See Tudor, II, 87, for table 
of cotton growing, 1829-1830; also Hall, B., Ill, 218 flf., for descrip- 
tion of a visit to a Sea Island cotton plantation. 

29 Lambert, II, 205. 

30 Melish, I, 34. 

31 Power, II, 123. 



AGRICULTURE, MANUFACTURE AND INDUSTRY 159 

molasses at eighteen cents a gallon. Money invested in a 
sugar plantation always paid a high rate of interest.^^ 

Travellers call attention to the fact that the value of 
the Western lands depended on many circumstances, such 
as *' distance from towns, the convenience of shipping 
produce, ... the quality of the land, its water privilege 
and the permanency of those streams. ' ' ^^ Even in these 
Western districts, the observer noticed that the population 
was not stable, but extended itself constantly toward the 
Rocky Mountains. ' ' On the road, every emigrant tells you 
he is going to Ohio," said Fearon, ''when you arrive in 
Ohio, its inhabitants are ' moving ' to Missouri or Alabama ; 
thus it is that the point for final settlement is forever reced- 
ing as you advance. " ^* It is difficult to say whether this 
was the cause or the effect of the type of people who settled 
the land. Many of these took up their abode on government 
soil with no intention of buying it. ' ' The first clearers or 
squatters as they were called," Melish tells us, ''look out a 
situation where they can find it, and clear and cultivate a 
piece of land. A second class come after them who have 
got a little money, and they buy up the improvements of 
the first settlers, and add to them, but w^ithout buying the 
land. A third and last class generally come for permanent 
settlement, and buy both land and improvements. When 
this last class have made a settlement, the country rapidly 
improves and assumes the appearance of extended cultiva- 
tion." ^^ 

The richness of the river bottoms west of the Alleghanies 
was seen to be the cause of the enormous amount of emigra- 
tion thither, though they were known to be wet and un- 

32 Tudor, II, 84-87; Holmes, p. 150. 

33 Fearon, p. 235; Shirreflf, p. 397. 

34 Fearon, p. 234. 

35 Melish, II, 119. 



160 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA. 

favorable to health.^^ On the higher lands, more health 
was to be enjoyed but less produce was raised. Here great 
numbers of sheep and cattle were pastured. The chief 
products of the Western lands were wheat and Indian corn, 
which were raised in quantities large enough not only to 
supply the needs of the population but to export down the 
watercourses to the southern or the foreign trade. Some- 
times the farmer himself took his produce down the river 
in the spring to New Orleans, sold it, and returned on 
horseback to his farm hundreds of miles away. Unless one 
were able thus to find a market elsewhere for one's produce, 
profits from agriculture in the West were likely to be ex- 
ceeding small. In a region where every man was a land- 
holder, there was no demand for the agricultural produce 
of one's neighbors. According to Fearon the average price 
which the Eastern farmer received for his wheat was about 
$1.00 a bushel, and for corn forty to seventy-five cents, de- 
pending on locality.^^ In Maryland in 1817, Palmer says, 
wheat was selling at the high price of $1.40 a bushel, but 
this was unusual.^^ In the West, prices were always lower ; 
wheat sometimes reached seventy-five cents and corn twenty- 
five cents.^^ Hodgson says that in Kentucky and Ohio about 
1820, all that the farmer could get for his wheat was twenty- 
five to thirty-three cents, and for Indian corn twelve and a 
half cents. Birkbeck estimated the price of grain in this 
same territory at seventy-five cents for wheat and forty 
cents for corn, but Hodgson says he was too optimistic.*® 
Certain parts of the Western land, Kentucky and Ten- 
nessee for instance, were especially desirable from the 

36 Flint, pp. 118-119; Melish, II, 192. 

37 Fearon, p. 199. 



38 Palmer, p. 40. 

39 Flint, p. 117; Janson, p. 445. 
*o Hodgson, II, 66-67, 78. 



AGRICULTURE, MANUFACTURE AND INDUSTRY 161 

point of climate ; Melish pointed out that they were warm 
enough to permit the cultivation of cotton and tobacco and 
still far enough north to escape the enervating heat of the 
more Southern states.*^ Faux maintained that the richest 
land in the Western country was near Birkbeck's settle- 
ment on the banks of the Wabash.*^ Harmony, Indiana, 
the scene of Rapp's communistic experiment, was also a 
place of * * prodigious richness. ' ' The first grade of land in 
the Illinois district. Palmer said, was ''inexhaustible in 
fecundity," as it had been cultivated annually without 
manure for more than a century. He found in this region 
six different kinds of soil suitable for every type of agri- 
cultural interest.'*^ The subject of the American prairie in 
the Middle West interested many visitors ; it was so differ- 
ent from anything else of the sort that travellers had seen 
in other countries, and even different from the far western 
lands."** The prairies were invariably rich and easily cul- 
tivated, were usually well-watered, and thus presented a 
place of settlement attractive to the emigrant as well as 
satisfying to the aesthetic sense of the casual visitor. Many 
surmises were made by those who looked upon this unusual 
land formation, as to its origin. The theory which was 
generally held was that the whole of the region over which 
prairie land extended had once been submerged. 

A feature of rural life in America which deserves men- 
tion here because of the general comment it caused, was the 
distinctive kind of fence with which the farmer sur- 
rounded his acres. The earliest form of barrier was the 
so-called ''snake" or "worm" fence which extended in 

41 Melish, II, 192-193; also Janson, pp. 443-444. 

42 Faux, p. 282 ; also p. 248. 

43 Palmer, p. 412; Holmes, p. 242. 

44 See, for instance, Latrobe, II, 160-162; Wilson, C. H., Appendix, 
p. Ill; Shirreflf, p. 243 ff. 



162 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

zigzag lines over all the cleared sections of the country. 
It was put together carelessly, Ferrall says, consisting of 
''bars about eight or nine feet in length laid zigzag on 
each other alternately. " *^ It was constructed with sublime 
disregard of the waste of the land occupied by its wander- 
ings ; it was only when the ground became something to be 
surveyed carefully and cultivated economically that other 
forms of barrier took the place of the primitive fence. It 
was superseded by the stone wall, especially in New Eng- 
land, where the latter form served a double purpose, as it 
incidentally afforded a use for the stones that too often en- 
cumbered the ground.*® Sometimes this kind of wall, it was 
noticed, was surmounted by two or three rails. The '*ne 
plus ultra" of the west country farmer was the post and 
rail fence. Ferrall gives us a description of one: '' [It] is 
constructed of posts, six feet in length, sunk in the ground 
to the depth of about a foot, and at eight or ten feet dis- 
tance; the rails are then laid into mortices cut into the 
posts at intervals of about thirteen or fourteen inches. ' ' *^ 
Live hedges were rarely seen; they invariably were said 
not to thrive well; in the South, however, one occasionally 
saw a privet or cypress hedge which was much more pleas- 
ing to the eye than were the wooden fences.*^ Thorn hedges 
were sometimes seen in the North on well-kept farms near 
the larger cities. Shirreff mentions having seen them near 
Boston and Philadelphia.*^ 

The price of land in the United States depended of course 
on local circumstances. It was said to range from twenty- 

45 Ferrall, p. 63; Dalton, p. 41; Neilson, p. 108; Janson, p. 391. 
46Martmeau, I, 295; Stuart, I, 166; Kendall, II, 184; Candler, 
p. 12; Shirreff, p. 43; Neilson, p. 107. 

47 Ferrall, pp. 63-64; also Woods, J., p. 198. 

48 Cooper, p. 127; Holmes, p. 175. 

49 Shirreff, pp. 24, 43. 



AGRICULTURE, MANUFACTURE AND INDUSTRY 163 

five cents an acre to $110 a foot-^*^ Land in the more prom- 
ising towns was usually conceded to be very dear, much 
dearer than in the best parts of London, we are told by 
Fearon.^^ Farms near cities were accordingly high-priced 
whether in the East or in the West. In 1817 and 1818, 
Fearon and Palmer say that farm land is selling for about 
$100 an acre near Pittsburg, Hagerstown (Maryland), Cin- 
cinnati, and on Long Island.^^ At this time the price of 
farms in Pennsylvania was considered to be low. Welby 
remarks on this fact, and says that a farm of 200 acres 
only six miles from Philadelphia, part of which was good 
grazing ground and the remainder of good quality, and 
including a good newly-erected brick house, was sold for 
$5,000.^^ In 1835, Shirreff says, land in the best condi- 
tion in the neighborhood of Philadelphia brought from 
$100 to $120 an acre.^* Even in 1818, however, the farms 
in the Great Valley of Pennsylvania brought the high price 
of $200 an acre, as the soil was unusually fertile. One 
traveller remarked that even at this price it was cheaper 
than the fifty-cent and the doUar-and-a-half lands in some 
other parts of the Eastern states.^^ 

Western prices also were affected by proximity to cities. 
About 1810, the land around Lexington, Kentucky, was sell- 
ing for $200 an acre, ''the most beautiful tract I ever saw," 
says the enthusiastic observer.^® In other parts of this 
state, however, very good farms could be bought at the 
same time for less than $12 an acre. 

soMartineau, I, 335-336. 

51 Fearon, p. 200; Bradbury, p. 299. 

52 Fearon, p. 70, also p. 199 ; Palmer, p. 85. 

53 Welby, p. 323; Faux, p. 100. 
54Shirreff, p. 26. 

55 Fearon, p. 181. 
56Melish, II, 189-190. 



164 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

As well as one may judge from the fragmentary remarks 
of travellers, it would seem that the average price of farm 
land throughout our fifty-year period ranged from $2 to 
$5 an acre for uncleared territory anywhere throughout 
the country, and from $20 to $50 for average well- 
cleared land with improvements. Thomas Cooper says 
that in 1795, hilly, unimproved land near Harrisburg, 
Pennsylvania, was selling at 20 to 30 shillings an acre, 
which was the average price, it would seem.^^ Almost 
twenty-five years later, good uncleared land in Ohio was 
selling for $2 to $5 an acre.^^ From coincidences of state- 
ments like these, it is evident that the price of uncleared 
land did not show any great variation. About 1820, farms 
in Virginia, in Connecticut, and in Pennsylvania were 
selling at an average of $30 an acre.^® Ten years later. Fow- 
ler says that in Dutchess County, New York, a very fertile 
tract of country ranged from $30 to $60.^° Prices of 
cleared land in the West seem to have been a little below 
this average. The term ''improved" did not connote the 
same degree of excellence here as it did in the East. The 
buildings were chiefly log huts, and much of the land on 
even the superior farms had not been cleared. Conse- 
quently the prices ranged from about $8 to $30 an acre, 
sometimes $40 if the land were near a city or a water- 
course.^^ 

There was in this period a vital connection between the 
agriculture of the United States and the development of 
her manufactures. To just what extent importation of for- 
eign goods should be encouraged, and how much America 
should manufacture for herself was a question which in 



57 Cooper, p. 123. 

58 Palmer, p. 85. 



59 See Fearon, p. 199; Palmer, p. 36, also p. 179. 

60 Fowler, pp. 180-181. ei Fearon, p. 216; Palmer, p. 85, 



AGRICULTURE, MANUFACTURE AND INDUSTRY 165 

the early days of settlement did not of course arise. The 
only business of the pioneer was perforce agriculture, which 
he performed as well as he could with the only implements 
at his disposal, either those he had brought with him from 
England or w^hat he had fashioned rudely for himself. 
Not only was it cheaper to import necessities, but it 
was in most cases the only way to obtain them. Often, too, 
Wansey tells us, a mechanic who came to the United States 
to engage in some kind of industry contracted the land- 
fever and forsook the loom for the plough.^^ As time went 
on, and the land became more and more occupied, a definite 
attitude toward manufacture in the United States neces- 
sarily shaped itself. Many good Americans believed that 
to encourage the increase of factories in the United States 
was to foster a demoralizing element in American life. 
Among those who so believed was Jefferson who, in ** Notes 
on Virginia," strongly expressed the opinion that a purely 
agricultural class was the only one that could keep its 
morals uncorrupted. ''While we have land to labour 
then," he said, "let us never wish to see our citizens oc- 
cupied at a work-bench, or twirling a distaff. Carpenters, 
masons, and smiths are wanted in husbandry; but for the 
general operations let our workshops remain in Europe. 
It is better to carry provisions and material to workmen 
there than to bring them to the provisions and materials, 
and with them their manners and principles. The loss by 
the transportation of commodities across the Atlantic will 
be made up in happiness and permanence of government. 
The mobs of great cities add just so much to the support of 
pure government as sores do to the strength of the human 
body. ' ' ^2 Though Jefferson is said by Bristed to have 

62 Wansey, p. 196; Bristed, p. 53; Holmes, p. 202. 

63 Jefferson, T., p. 175, "Notes on Virginia" (1788 edition); 
Bristed, p. 55. 



166 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

changed his opinion later, his argument represents the chief 
objections to domestic manufactures, among native Ameri- 
cans and many travellers as well. The prevailing attitude 
was seen to be, however, toward the encouragement of 
manufactures, especially after the exclusion forced upon 
America by the Long Embargo of 1807-9 and by the War 
of 1812, showed how self-sufficient the country could be in 
this respect. By this time, Americans had seen that they 
were able to do without English goods if it were necessary, 
and many native products had become seemingly indispen- 
sable. There were some complaints that this home market 
compelled Americans to pay 100 per cent more for goods 
of an inferior quality,^* but it became a matter of patriot- 
ism to use these products of native manufacture. Later, 
the United States was driven to the encouragement of 
factories because of the congestion of the land, particularly 
in the East. Miss Martineau tells of the insufficiency of 
the soil in New England to support its population. Many 
of the farms were heavily mortgaged and members of the 
family turned involuntarily to work in the factories to 
secure the ready money needed. The largest proportion of 
factory girls in New England was furnished by country 
families.^^ 

A phase of American industry interesting to the for- 
eigner was the domestic manufacture which went on in 
practically every American home and on every American 
farm in the early days of our period.^^ If a saw mill or a 
grist mill, for instance, were not available to the progres- 
sive farmer who had logs to be sawed or wheat to be 
ground, he contrived some means of improvising such con- 
veniences. Members of the family had to be clothed ; there- 

64Bristed, p. 57. 

65 Martineau, I, 294-295. 

66 See Melish, I, 99, 103, 115, 118; D'Arusmont, p. 285. 



AGRICULTURE, MANUFACTURE AND INDUSTRY 167 

fore the resources of cotton available to the Southerner in 
his own fields and to the Northerner at a small price, were 
drawn upon by the women of the family. Wool and flax, 
too, were generally at hand when needed. It was said that 
so general was the knowledge of spinning and weaving that 
there were even great surplus quantities of coarse tow cloth 
to be exported from the country districts of some of the 
states. The product of these domestic looms was always 
substantial and good. Hodgson said as late as 1820 that 
domestic manufacture was carried on all over the country 
to a surprising extent.^^ In New York state, many small 
farmers could not have existed without it ; in Pennsylvania 
it was still more general, ''the importation of Irish linen 
having been most seriously checked by the greatly increased 
cultivation and manufacture of flax in the immediate 
vicinity of Philadelphia." In Virginia, North Carolina, 
and Georgia, the same combination of agriculture and manu- 
facture was noticed.^^ The planters often supplied all their 
needs by the work of slaves on their own estates. Weld 
says of the Virginians, ''Amongst their slaves are found 
taylors, shoemakers, carpenters, smiths, turners, wheel- 
wrights, weavers, tanners, etc. I have seen patterns of ex- 
cellent coarse woolen cloth made in the country by slaves, 
and a variety of cotton manufactures, amongst the rest 
good nankeen." ^^ Bradbury says that in the West also 
flax was grown, many had a cotton patch, and few were 
without sheep. Some of the women wove their own goods, 
others entrusted it to a professional weaver. He also says 
that domestic manufacture of wool was much facilitated by 
the carding machines which were to be seen in every part 
of the United States, some proprietors owning two or 
three.'^^ In short, so great was the necessity for domestic 

67 Hodgson, II, 71. se Weld, I, 147. 

68 Melish, I, 32-33. 7o Bradbury, pp. 303-304. 



168 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

manufacture throughout the nation that in 1812 it was 
estimated by Melish from ''information received from 
every state and from more than 60 places," that probably 
about two-thirds of the clothing and house and table linen 
of the inhabitants of the United States who did not reside 
in sea ports, was made in this way/^ 

From the point of view of the progressive American, the 
future of his country's manufactures outside the home 
seemed one of great promise; the English merchant, how- 
ever, suffered increasing apprehension for a most profitable 
part of the export trade of Great Britain. English travel- 
lers tried to reassure the people at home that America could 
never become a serious rival in manufacture. In 1794, 
Priest wrote to a friend in England that importation of 
British goods would continue to be necessary for an in- 
definite time. The United States had so few inhabitants 
and so much land uncultivated that it was not to their 
interest to engage in manufacture. When the country be- 
came sufficiently populous, it would be much easier to 
conquer and settle South America than to ''go through the 
drudgery of fabrication. " ^^ If manufacture could take 
a firm footing anywhere, Priest said, it would be in New 
England, but the people of that district preferred to emi- 
grate to the West- rather than engage in a laborious trade. 
That this hope of the English was unfounded was proved 
by the subsequent history of manufacture in the United 
States, and admitted by later travellers, one of whom in 
1812 says that the opinion that the Americans had an over- 
whelming predilection for agriculture was more specious 
than solid, that he himself investigated the matter as he 
had a personal interest in it, and was now quite convinced 
that internal manufacture would in all probability be 
eventually substituted for foreign commerce. '^^ In 1824, 

71 Melish, I, 395-396. 72 Priest, pp. 83-84. 73 Melish, I, 83. 



AGRICULTURE, MANUFACTURE AND INDUSTRY 169 

Hodgson confessed that the array of manufactures at an 
exhibit near Boston required all his philanthropy "to sup- 
press the rising apprehension of an English merchant."'* 

The natural features of New England made that part of 
the country admirably adapted to the growth of manu- 
facture. Observers commented on the fact that she had 
plenty of poor land, but fine situations for mills, also an 
extended coast line for the exportation of her manufac- 
tured products.'^ Besides these natural advantages, she 
had a surplus population to provide the labor for her fac- 
tories. Women were especially plentiful, as has been said ; 
the factories employed much energy which otherwise would 
have been w^asted. The high price of labor, too, compelled 
the constant employment of ingenuity and skill in the 
invention of aids to cheaper and better manufacture, such 
devices as carding machines, for instance, and particular 
kinds of nails and screws, in the making of which the 
Americans were considered very clever.'^® 

Much is told us of manufactures by Melish, who was 
primarily interested in trade.'' He says that Rhode Island 
was the first state to become known for her cotton mills. 
Her earliest attempt at establishing this branch of manu- 
facture was in 1791 ; this was followed by another in 1795. 
Two factories were built in Massachusetts in 1803 and 
1804, and during the three succeeding years, ten more in 
Rhode Island and one in Connecticut, making fifteen mills 
before 1808, which produced about 300,000 pounds of yarn 
a year. By the end of 1810 there were said to be eighty- 
seven cotton factories in New England. Morse's *' Univer- 
sal Gazetteer ' ' says that in 1821 there were more than one 

74 Hodgson, II, 7. 

75 See Martineau, II, 40-41, 137. 

76 Power, II, 18; Shirreff, p. 46; Candler, p. 435; Melish, I, 83. 

77 See Melish, I, 78, also 394. 



170 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

hundred cotton factories in Rhode Island and the adjacent 
parts of Connecticut and Massachusetts, and that ten ves- 
sels were constantly employed at Providence, in the expor- 
tation of cotton goods.'^® 

Lowell, Massachusetts, became the best known manufac- 
turing city in the United States, and was visited by many 
observers. This town, situated at the confluence of the 
Merrimac and Concord rivers, possessed a water power 
which made it an ideal place for factories/^ It was named 
for Francis LoweU, we are told, who introduced the manu- 
facture of cotton into the country. Miss Martineau tells 
that in 1818 it possessed only a small satinet mill employing 
about twenty hands. In 1825, a corporation was formed, 
which increased steadily in wealth and influence until in 
1832 the capital invested represented over $6,000,000. It 
employed 5,000 people, of whom 3,800 were women and 
girls. Over 20,000 bales of raw cotton produced in one 
year 25,000,000 yards of goods. Thousands of yards of 
woolen cloth were produced in Lowell as well, and sixty- 
eight carpet looms were constantly at work. Murray says 
that in 1834 when he visited this town, it was employing 
annually 7,000 persons, and turning out 40,000,000 yards 
of cotton goods of which one-fourth was printed.^° Ameri- 
can designs and colors were supposed to be unusually 
good.®^ 

A sight interesting to the visitor to these mills was the 
appearance of the women operatives. Many travellers men- 
tion the fact that they looked attractive and prosperous. 
They were paid, besides their board, an average of $2 to $3 
a week for seventy hours ' work ; this was considered a large 

78 Quoted by Hodgson, II, 130. 

79 See Shirreff, p. 44; Martineau, II, 42; Vigne, II, 236-237. 

80 Murray, I, 78-79. 

81 Hodgson, II, 8; Power, II, 18. 



AGRICULTURE, MANUFACTURE AND INDUSTRY 171 

sum for female labor. This accounted, it was said, for their 
well-dressed appearance; most of them were able as well 
to save quite a sum annually. ^^ Their day's labor lasted 
from daylight till dark, with a half -hour's intermission for 
breakfast and for dinner. They slept in houses provided 
by their employers; sometimes many in one room, to the 
distress of strangers who visited their quarters.®^ Shirreff 
tells of seeing a crowd of Lowell operatives going home 
from work on a Saturday afternoon : ' ' All were clean, neat 
and fashionably attired, Avith reticules hanging on their 
arms and calashes on their heads. They commonly walked 
arm in arm without displaying levity. Their general ap- 
pearance and deportment was such that few British gentle- 
men in the middle ranks of life need have been ashamed of 
leading any one of them to a tea party." ^* In regard to 
the prevailing purity of morals of these young women, it 
was said that the cause lay in the strict supervision and 
high standards set by the mill-owners, and in the class of 
people to which the girls belonged. Many of them were in 
the factories because they had too much pride to enter 
domestic service. Was it strange, then, thought the travel- 
ler, that these women could not stoop to immorality ? Gen- 
erally, they represented an intelligent class ; sometimes fac- 
tory owners built a church in the community and provided 
lyceums and libraries for their operatives.®^ 

The circumstance most favorable to cotton manufacture 
was the low price of raw material, on which Melish com- 
ments; cotton could be obtained very cheaply by water 
carriage in most parts of the United States. In Ohio, the 
expense of bringing it from Mississippi (1825) was only 

82 Shirreff, p. 45; Martineau, II, 58; Hall, B., II, 135-136. 
83Martineau, II, 139. 

84 Shirreff, p. 45. 

85 Martineau, II, 58, 138. 



172 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

one and one-half cents per pound; in New England, the 
price seldom reached twenty cents, in 1812 it was as low 
as twelve or thirteen cents.®^ Another advantage was that 
British cotton goods, to secure the manufacturer any profit, 
had to be priced high because of the carriage charges, im- 
port duties, and other expenses. Thus a happy combina- 
tion of circumstances favored the increase of this branch 
of manufacture in the United States. 

New England abounded in other factory industries, many 
of which were visited by the traveller. Paper mills were 
seen in Rhode Island and Massachusetts ;^^ factories for the 
production of sheet-iron, steel, nails, anchors, sailcloth, and 
other necessities for shipping, multiplied near the coast. 
Hartford, Connecticut, was known as a manufacturing 
town, its woolen mills being famous throughout the coun- 
try.®® The boot and shoe trade was a distinctive part of 
New England production. This was carried on at first in 
the homes, chiefly in the spare moments of the women and 
children. It grew to be so valuable, we are told, that in 
1831 the value of boots and shoes made at Lynn, Massa- 
chusetts, was nearly a million dollars annually. Here, 
3,500 people were employed in the making of about 
1,500,000 pairs.^^ In short, so vital was the interest in in- 
dustry in New England that in 1824, when Hodgson went 
with some friends to an exhibition of domestic manufac- 
tures at Brighton, Massachusetts, he says it would have 
been difficult to mention any article that was omitted, * ' from 
a tawdry rosy-cheeked wax doll to the most substantial 
fabrics of woolen and cotton. ' ' ^^ The Governor of Ohio, 

86Melish, I, 84; Hodgson, II, 8. 

87Wansey, p. 34; Melish, I, 78. 

88 Wansey, p. 261. 

89Martineau, II, 44-45; also Kendall, III, 21. 

90 Hodgson, II, p. 7. 



AGRICULTURE, MANUFACTURE AND INDUSTRY 173 

he says, was present to inspect the manufactures with a 
view to encouraging the introduction of them into his own 
state. 

The Middle Atlantic States were more given up to agri- 
culture, but nevertheless produced great numbers of useful 
manufactured commodities. Thomas Cooper remarked in 
1795 that the extensive production of military supplies 
enabled the United States to derive from their own re- 
sources everything from ships of war to the buckles on the 
soldiers' shoes.^^ The manufacture of firearms was carried 
on in Pennsylvania, chiefly at Lancaster, and was very 
lucrative. The American rifles were not so handsome as 
the European variety, Englishmen said, but were excellent 
in quality.^2 The flour mills throughout the state were a 
great curiosity to visitors. Those on the Brandywine River 
were especially celebrated.^^ Weld comments on the sight 
of thirteen mills built close together along this watercourse, 
some for flour, the others for stone-cutting and wood-saw- 
ing. Pennsylvania was indeed one of the greatest manufac- 
turing states in the Union. In 1810, by Melish's account 
there were thirty iron furnaces within her boundaries, be- 
sides manufactories turning out furniture and agricultural 
implements, all kinds of leather goods, woolen goods, and 
a variety of other articles such as glass, china, liquors, 
powder, shot, etc.®* 

Pittsburg, Fearon says, was bombastically called by the 
Americans "Birmingham" because of its numerous fac- 
tories, most of which originated during the War of 1812. 
An influential citizen of the town furnished the English- 

91 Cooper, p. 220. 

92Melish, I, 111; Priest, pp. 59, 85; Dalton, p. 58; Weld, I, 117; 
Coke, I, 115-116. 

93 Priest, p. 21; Weld, I, 34; Cooper, p. 134. 
94Melish, I, 174; see also Vigne, I, 97. 



174 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

man with a list of manufactures for 1817. It summarized 
the employment of 1280 workmen in forty-one different 
types of industry and represented a value of $1,896,396.^^ 
We have evidence that even before the war, Pittsburg had 
made rapid progress in industry. A list of the occupations 
engaged in there in 1810 represented sixty-one different 
kinds of work, with an annual value of over $1,000,000 
yearly ; that is, Melish estimates, an average of over $200 a 
year for every man, woman, and child.^^ 

When we turn to New York State, we marvel at the 
variety of important productions. In 1810, they included 
*' articles of glass, ashes, ironware of various descriptions, 
leather of all kinds, hats, carriages, paper and printing, 
pottery-ware, umbrellas, mathematical and musical instru- 
ments"; they amounted to $17,000,000.^^ Howison in 1821 
or 1822 visited a cotton mill at Utica; here again one was 
impressed with the bright and healthy look of the opera- 
tives, who were as usual mostly women and children. 
"Many of the females were reading the Bible, and others 
sat sewing, during the intervals of leisure which their re- 
spective occupations afforded them."^^ The shoe trade 
of New York State was, about 1830, more valuable, we 
are told, than the total commerce of Georgia.^^ The manu- 
facture of silk flourished to some extent. One farmer on 
Cayuga Lake told James Stuart that he was selling silk to 
the amount of about $600 a year.^^*^ The central part of 
the state was noted for its salt-works, as it boasted "the 
strongest saline water yet discovered in the world. ' ' Forty 

95 Fearon, p. 197; also given by Flint, pp. 84-85. 

96 Melish, II, 55-56; see also Hulme, p. 37. 

97 Melish, I, 137. 

98 Howison, p. 318. 
99Martineau, II, 44-45. 

100 Stuart, I, 177; see, also, Kendall, I, 251. 



AGRICULTURE, MANUFACTURE AND INDUSTRY 175 

gallons of water yielded a bushel of pure salt, Fowler says. 
In 1830, there were one hundred salt factories at Salina 
and twenty-five at Syracuse, all of them state property, 
and rented out according to custom/°^ A small group of 
industries sprang up around New York and Brookljm, the 
latter of which had numerous tanneries, distilleries, and 
cotton and linen manufactories.^^^ 

After Pittsburg, Cincinnati was the most important 
manufacturing town on the Ohio River. ''The profes- 
sions exercised," said Melish, ''are nearly as numerous as 
at Pittsburg. ' ' ^^^ Cincinnati 's location was particularly 
favorable to manufacture and the export trade, and the 
rapidly increasing population of the town and of the sur- 
rounding country called for more and more luxuries as 
time went on. 

Kentucky was the center of the hemp industry, as it was 
suitable for slave labor. In Lexington, her chief city, 
this particular branch of manufacture brought the state 
$500,000 in 1810.^°^ At that time there were also eight 
cotton mills, three woolen manufactories, and an oil cloth 
factory in the town, besides a number of smaller enterprises. 

The South throughout this period had no particular in- 
terest in manufactures, except those of the domestic sort 
that were carried on on the plantation. A traveller speaks 
of his pleasure in hearing the sound of mill stones in a 
country district of Georgia, the grist mills moved by water 
power being the only type that the Southerner saw fre- 
quently.^°^ Slave labor was not satisfactory in manufac- 

101 See Fowler, pp. 87-88"; Maude, John (p. 43), says state rent 
was four cents for every bushel of salt made. 

102 Wansey, pp. 68, 70 ; Fowler, p. 25 ; Neilson, pp. 32-33. 

103 Melish, II, 127: Palmer, pp. 72-74. 

104 Melish, II, 187-188; Fearon, p. 245. 

105 Melish, I, 38. 



176 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

ture ; the blacks were not by nature fitted for this kind of 
work, and there was no other laboring class in the South. 
Miss Martineau saw one factory at Richmond, Virginia, 
worked by black labor. The quality of the work was good, 
*'to the surprise of those w^ho tried the experiment. " ^^* 
This difference in attitude toward industry, revealed by the 
two parts of the country, was destined to account for much 
of the economic struggle that arose later between the North 
and South. 

It is thus apparent that manufacture, in the Northern 
states at least, showed a disposition to take its stand be- 
side agriculture as one of the two leading occupations of 
the American people. In 1810, a point of time midway in 
this period, the report of the Secretary of the Treasury of 
the United States, quoted by a traveller, puts the total of 
American manufactures at more than $120,000,000 an- 
nually, and "it is not improbable, ' ' he says, ' ' that the raw 
material used and the provisions and other articles consumed 
by the manufacturers, creates a home market for agri- 
cultural purposes not very inferior to that which arises from 
foreign demand. ' ' ^°^ 

Mining was an occupation in which the first settlers were 
not interested. They lived on the top of the soil, many 
without even the necessity of digging a well. The presence 
of such useful commodities as salt, iron, coal, etc., was in- 
dicated at times on the surface of the earth and led, 
Bradbury says, to the first attempts to penetrate below the 
soil.^*^^ "VVeld says that valuable mines of iron and copper 
were discovered in Virginia before 1795, but were just 
beginning to be worked at that date.^^^ Wansey, about the 
same time, visited a new copper mine near Paterson, 

106 Martineau, I, 300. los Bradbury, pp. 55, 88, 161. 

lOT Quoted by Melish, I, 397. io9 Weld, I, 210. 



AGRICULTURE, MANUFACTURE AND INDUSTRY 177 

N. J."° Several travellers tell of the discovery of gold 
in 1800 in the sand and gravel of the North Carolina 
watercourses;^" after 1814, this state furnished the gov- 
ernment mint with ^' great quantities" of the precious 
metal. A succession of gold mines was also discovered in 
Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia; in 1830, the mint 
was receiving the output of all of these states. Of the 
gold coined in that year by the government, about $446,000 
of the total $643,000 was native metal. 

Throughout all the Western country, including western 
Pennsylvania, there were great possibilities of salt, coal, 
iron, lead, and nitre. Missouri especially abounded in 
lead; coal was believed, with truth, to be very abundant; 
caverns in the rocks yielded great quantities of saltpetre; 
in short, the mining possibilities of the West seemed to 
foreigners as unlimited as the prospects for agriculture and 
manufacture.^^^ 

Trades and mechanic arts flourished in the same pro- 
portion. Even in the sections patently agricultural there 
seems never to have been a lack of masons, carpenters, 
smiths, and mechanics of all sorts. Yankee ingenuity was 
an acknowledged trait, and many a native American com- 
bined several trades with his primary vocation.^^^ His en- 
deavor to do so provoked sometimes a complaint from the 
traveller who required his services. James Flint tells of 
the incapacity of the average Western mechanic. He says 
that almost every well-finished article in the West was 
imported."* The country west of the Alleghanies offered 

110 Wansey, p. 187. 

111 For gold in North Carolina, see Alexander, II, 116 ff. ; Vigne, 
I, 221 ff.; Janson, p. 365. See Ouseley, Chap. XVII. 

112 Bradbury, pp. 259, 291; Holmes, p. 226. 

113 See Melish, I, 83. 
11* Flint, pp. 196-197. 



178 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

a fine field for mechanic arts, and there is no doubt that 
the great competition in the Eastern states, which many- 
travellers emphasize, did a great deal to send that class 
of people westward. Staple trades like shoemaking and 
tailoring were glutted, Fearon says, while the labor which 
produced the finer arts — goldbeating, gilding, carving, etc., 
was in its prime about the middle of this period.^^^ 

It is interesting in the light of present conditions to 
know what were the average wages of a mechanic.^^® 
Melish tells us that in 1810 in Pittsburg, where labor was 
considered well-paid, carpenters received $1 a day; cabinet- 
makers, being paid by the piece, averaged slightly more 
than that. Smiths and tanners worked for $12 a month 
and board. Shoemakers received ninety-four cents for mak- 
ing a pair of shoes and $2.50 for a pair of boots. Ship- 
wrights were very well paid, they received $1.50 a day. 
Other mechanics received $1 and unskilled laborers seventy- 
five cents. A few years later (1818), James Flint says 
that in Cincinnati journeymen mechanics received $1.75 
to $2 a day. Their board cost about $3 a week; thus 
they were able to dress well and in some cases to keep a 
horse.^^^ 

That there was a certain amount of discontent and dis- 
satisfaction with laboring conditions is apparent. Fearon 
gives some instances of grumbling that he has heard — 
once in Pittsburg chiefly among mechanics of foreign birth, 
and once in New York City.^^^ We read of one notable 
strike. This was in New York City in 1833, when the car- 
penters struck for an increase of one shilling a day on 
their wages, and secured it after a two weeks' demonstra- 

115 Fearon, pp. 25, 29 flf. 

116 Melish, II, 56; Wansey, p. 80; Flint, p. 150; Neilson, p. 6. 

117 Flint, p. 150. 

118 Fearon, pp. 25, 207; Abdy, I, 30. 



AGRICULTURE, MANUFACTURE AND INDUSTRY 179 

tion."^ Any dissatisfaction, however, that arose among the 
laboring classes, was likely to be on the point of hours 
rather than of wages. Under the influence of Frances 
Wright, afterward Madame D'Arusmont, and others, the 
working classes of New York City were, about 1830, or- 
ganized into bodies for the monopoly of political power. 
These socialistic organizations were of several different 
kinds, depending on the interests of the members, who were 
called ' ' Workies, ' ' and who united in attacks on prevailing 
conditions of society. The ''agrarians," for instance, Fer- 
rall says, tried to bring about legislation to the effect that 
no one should be allowed to hold more than a certain quan- 
tity of land, and that at given intervals of time, there 
should be an equal division of property.^^*^ 

The future of the mechanic arts was well summed up 
by the traveler Latrobe, who visited America in 1832-33. 
*' . . . whether it is in the fine arts that America is to 
distinguish herself or not, there can be no doubt that in 
the mechanic arts she will attain great excellence. Of that, 
everything gives promise, and the very circumstances that 
would seem to be against her in her cultivation of the 
former, are highly conducive to her advance and perfec- 
tion in the latter. Travel w^here you will through the 
middle and eastern states, you will see tokens of a busy 
spirit of emulative industry, boldness of design and con- 
ception in every branch of mechanics, from the lowest to 
the highest, which must command admiration. To this the 
absence of monopolies, the incessant call for exertion and 
emulation, the vastness of the public w^orks are all favor- 
able. . . . The steam-vessel contains abundant proof of this 
mechanical talent in every part of its details. From the 

ii9Abdy, I, 30 flF.; II, 308-309; Shirreff, p. 401. 
120 For the best account of these, see Ferrall, p. 327 flf. ; also 
Abdy, II, 311. 



180 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

bridges, water works, railroads, docks, and public works of 
every description, down through the countless number of 
aids to human comfort to the very mouse-trap, you detect 
the prevalence of this same busy ingenuity and talent. 
And there is no reason to believe it will not increase with 
the growth of the country. ' ' ^^^ 

i2iLatrobe, II, 68. 



CHAPTER VII 

TRADE AND FINANCE 

As a result of her productive agriculture and manu- 
factures, the United States had a great deal of surplus 
goods to export to all parts of the world as an offset to 
her enormous imports. She was peculiarly fitted to become 
a great commercial market, not only because of these con- 
ditions of production, but because of the extended coast 
line, the good harbors, and the facilities for inland trans- 
portation. To all these circumstances was added the great 
advance made by the Americans in the art of ship-building.^ 
This was carried on in every American port, and even as 
far inland as Pittsburg, 2300 miles from the ocean, the 
vessels passing by way of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.^ 
Though the price of labor was high, the Americans, it was 
said, could build ships cheaply because of the wealth of 
material at their disposal. The best woods were cedar and 
live-oak, the latter of which was exported from the Southern 
states to the coast towns.^ Travellers describe these ships 
as being long and sharp, and lighter and faster than the 
British boats, which they superseded to such an extent that 
even English merchants refused to send their produce 
from their home ports in auything but American ships.* 

iDe Roos, pp. 43-44; Cooper, p. 211; Bristed, p. 39; Melish, I, 184. 
2 Ashe, p. 26 ; Janson, p. 438. 
sWansey, pp. 230-231; Priest, pp. 86-87. 

4 See Blane, p. 347 flf., for a very good account of American ships. 

181 



182 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

They were never loaded heavily, and therefore completed 
a sea- voyage much more quickly than did the English boats. 
Like the later steam-vessels on the inland waters, they 
were finished remarkably well, and the comfort, and even 
elegance, of their furnishings impressed travellers very 
much. Enthusiastic Englishmen compared them to Cleo- 
patra's barge, or to the royal yachts of their own 

s*^j;unoo 

Into every American port which had any connection with 
the back country, poured streams of export material, the 
overflow of American activity. Owing to the United States' 
policy of unrestricted export trade, any one was able to 
send anything he wished to any harbor in the world.^ 
Observers saw going out from the ports of Boston, Salem, 
Providence, and New York, great shipments of manu- 
factured commodities: paper, glass, iron, leather, soap, 
candles, spirits, hats, shoes, and cotton and woolen goods.'^ 
Farther South, flour and other agricultural products from 
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware were shipped with 
the manufactured iron, paper, and lumber.^ The chief 
articles of agricultural export from the United States were 
wheat, flour, rice, Indian corn, beans, peas, potatoes, beef, 
tallow, hides, butter, cheese, pork, tobacco, cotton, and 
indigo. It was estimated by Bristed that the amount of 
vegetable food alone exported in one year (1803), was 
valued at $14,080,000— a little less than half of the total 
amount of agricultural export. This, in turn, represented 
three-quarters of the whole domestic export. Much of this 
came from the vast area of the Middle West by way of 
New Orleans, while the South contributed great quantities 

sBlane, p. 351; Candler, p. 435. 

6 Flint, p. 205; Cooper, p. 213; Blane, p. 346. 

7 See Melish, I, 78, 90, 99-100, 115, 126. 
sMelish, I. 181, 185. 



TRADE AND FINANCE 183 

of raw cotton, tobacco, and rice, both to the North and to 
foreign ports. ^ 

It was noticed that harbors that had not easy connection 
with inland resources became neglected for those that had. 
Newport was cited as an example of this; her harbor was 
one of the finest along the coast and she was in most other 
respects eminently fitted for a promising commercial career, 
but she had no adequate means of receiving export goods 
from the inland districts, and therefore became neglected 
and impoverished.^*^ The same was seen to be true to a 
less degree of Boston, which never attained to the com- 
mercial importance of New York, Philadelphia, and Balti- 
more, because of the lack of navigable rivers in her 
vicinity.^^ 

In 1784, a traveller tells us, the exports from the United 
States amounted to $4,000,000, the imports to $18,000,000 ; 
by 1790, the former had increased to $6,000,000 while the 
imports were now valued at $17,260,000.^^ An examina- 
tion of Bristed's statistics reveals the fact that, beginning 
with 1791, the export trade increased steadily. By 1816 it 
had reached $81,920,452, in spite of two setbacks during 
the Long Embargo and the second war with Great Britain.^^ 
In 1825, according to Harriet Martineau, the exports rep- 
resented a value of $3,000,000 more than the imports, which 
were estimated at $96,000,000; while by 1835, the imports 
were $126,000,000 as against $104,000,000 in exports.^* It 

&Melish, I, 276; Palmer, p. 74; Bristed, pp. 23-24. Bristed bases 
his figures on Timotliy Pitkin's "Statistical View of the United 
States" (revised edition, 1817); see Pitkin, pp. 123, 146. 

10 Hodgson, II, 132; Power, II, 22-23. 

11 Weld, I, 55-56 ; Melish, I, 90. 

12 Bristed, p. 40. 

13 Bristed, p. 40. {State Papers, Doc. $4, 16th Congress, 1st 
session, Vol. I) . 

14 Martineau, II, 64-65. 



184 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

may thus be seen that however rapidly manufacture and 
agriculture developed in the United States, the demand for 
foreign commodities seemed to persist as well. As wealth 
increased in the new republic, the demand for luxuries 
grew correspondingly, and importations of that kind sup- 
planted more or less the shiploads of necessities that had 
formerly entered American ports. 

It was said that there was no known harbor of the world 
in which American ships could not be found, and from 
which they did not bear rich cargoes to their home cities. 
Coffee, rum, and sugar came from the West Indies, and 
from the East Indies, tea, muslins, and calicoes.^^ Luxuries 
and curiosities from India and China appeared in New 
England homes as a matter of course. Indeed, the traffic 
with China became a fixed and important part of Amer- 
ican commerce. The United States not only sent her own 
products to China but did all the carrjdng from Great 
Britain to that country, as well.^^ ''The return cargoes,'' 
says a traveller, ''consist of teas, silks, nankeens, shawls, 
japanned cabinet goods, china, coloured blinds, screens, 
papers, ivory and mother-of-pearl trinkets, fancy stationery 
and an endless catalogue of articles under the class of 
useful and ornamental bagatelles which all find a ready 
sale at a considerable profit, as well for the store keepers 
as for the importers. " ^^ 

The Americans were seen to carry on more trade with 
i Great Britain than with any other country. From her 
they exported chiefly manufactured articles of a practical 
nature; commodities w^hich they themselves had not yet 
found time nor facilities for producing, as for instance, 
certain kinds of woolen, cotton, and linen goods, hardware, 

15 Weld, I, 54. 

leWansey, p. 230; Candler, pp. 436-437; Boardman, p. 348 flf. 

17 Boardman, p. 349. 



TRADE AND FINANCE 185 

cutlery, hosiery, and earthenware.^^ Most of these were car- 
ried in American ships. Isaac Holmes says that in 1823 
there were ten American ships to one English merchant- 
man.^^ Another English observer primarily interested in 
commerce explains why so much of the carrying was done 
by American vessels exclusively. Goods transported in this 
way from England to the United States were 8 to 10% 
cheaper and those from America to Great Britain 10 to 
20% cheaper than if they had been carried in English 
vessels. The reason lay in the high rate of insurance which 
Great Britain was obliged to pay on her shipping because 
of her continued participation in war. 2°. Priest says that 
in 1791 the imports to the United States from England 
alone amounted to over $19,000,000, chiefly in manufac- 
tured articles.-^ In this same year, another traveller tells 
us, of the $17,500,000 worth of exports from the United 
States, about one-half went to Great Britain.^- Bristed 
estimates that, judging from the figures of the years 1802, 
1803, and 1804, the trade between the United States and 
England was greater than that between the former country 
and all the rest of the world.^^ The importation of raw 
cotton into Great Britain was an important feature of the 
trade ; so great was the increase of traffic in this commodity, 
it was said, especially after the peace of 1815, that in one 
period of four years' duration (1819-1823), the number of 
bales was more than doubled, increasing from 204,831 to 

isMelish, I, 442; Weld, I, 54. 
19 Holmes, p. 234. 
20Melisli, I, 443. 

21 Priest, p. 27. 

22 See table in front of Wansey's book. Government report gives 
exports at $19,012,041 (State Papers, Doc. #4, 16th Congress, Ist 
session, Vol. I ) . 

23 Verified by Pitkin, pp. 192-193; Bristed, p. 41. 



186 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

449,255.2* Subsequent tables of statistics given by English 
travellers bear the same testimony to the importance of 
the trade with Great Britain, and show that it increased 
proportionally all through this period. One account of 
1830 puts the exports from England to America in that 
year at over $22,000,000 and the imports at $24,000,000, 
which was more than double the trade with France, which 
stood second on the list.^^ 

No discussion of the commerce of the United States, as 
Englishmen saw it, would be complete without some men- 
tion of the Long Embargo and its effects. Jefferson's act 
provided for the entire suspension of shipping, except the 
coasting trade, for an indefinite period of time. The re- 
striction was removed in 1809, but its effects were felt long 
afterward. It had been confidently expected, it was said, 
that the embargo would increase American manufacture by 
the stoppage of foreign importation, but the distress and 
financial loss that it caused offset whatever good it may 
have done in that direction. The traveller Lambert tells 
of two visits to New York in November, 1807, and in April, 
1808, and of the contrast the city presented on these two 
occasions. In 1807, New York was a scene of bustling and 
cheerful activity. ''But on my return . . . the following 
April," he says, ''what a contrast was presented to my 
view^ ! . . . The port indeed was full of shipping ; but they 
were dismantled and laid up. Their decks were cleared, 
their hatches fastened down, and scarcely a sailor was to 
be found on board. Not a box, bale, cask, barrel or pack- 
age was to be seen upon the wharfs. Many of the counting 
houses were shut up, or advertised to be let, and the few 
solitary merchants, clerks, porters and laborers that were 
to be seen, were walking about with their hands in their 
pockets, . . . the grass had begun to grow upon the wharfs. 

24 Hodgson, II, Appendix, 361. 25 Tudor, II, 384. 



TRADE AND FINANCE 187 

... In short, the scene was so gloomy and so forlorn that 
had it been the month of September instead of April, I 
should verily have thought that a malignant fever was 
l-aging in the place; so desolating were the effects of the 
embargo, which, in the short space of five months, had 
deprived the first commercial city in the States of all its 
life, bustle, and activity; caused above one hundred and 
twenty bankruptcies ; and completely annihilated its foreign 
commerce ! " ^'^ 

In 1792, according to Wansey, Massachusetts stood 
fourth on the list of exporting states, ranking below Penn- 
sylvania, New York, and Maryland with an export trade of 
$2,389,922." Melish says that by 1805 she had exceeded 
at least two of these, Pennsylvania and Maryland, with a 
trade valued at more than $19,000,000.^* In the same year, 
the duty paid upon imports into Boston amounted to 
$6,408,000; those into Salem, to $1,034,498, as against 
$12,862,020 and $7,777,965 in New York and Philadelphia 
respectively.^^ The commercial history of Salem is very 
picturesque. When Miss Martineau visited it in 1832, it 
had a population of 14,000, and more wealth in propor- 
tion, she says, than probably any other town in the world. 
''The enterprising merchants of Salem are hoping to ap- 
propriate a large share of the whale fishery, and their 
ships are penetrating the northern ice. They are favorite 
customers in the Russian ports, and are familiar with the 
Swedish and Norwegian coasts. They have nearly as much 
commerce with Bremen as with Liverpool. They speak of 
Fayal and the other Azores as if they were close at hand. 

26 Lambert, II, 62-65, also 294-295; Bristed, p. 37; also Kendall, 
III, 277, 293. 

27 See tables in front of Wansey's book. 

28 Melish, I, 115, 153, 190. 

29 Lambert, II, 490-491; also Kendall, II, 261. 



188 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

The fruits of the Mediterranean countries are on every 
table. They have a large acquaintance at Cairo. They 
know Napoleon's grave at St. Helena and have wild tales 
to tell of Mosambique and Madagascar, and stores of ivory 
to show from there. They speak of the power of the King 
of Muscat, and are sensible of the riches of the southeast 
coast of Arabia. . . . The merchants doubt whether Aus- 
tralia will be able to surmount the disadvantage of a de- 
ficiency of navigable rivers. They have hopes of Van 
Diemen's Land, think well of Singapore and acknowledge 
great expectations for New Zealand. Anybody will give 
you anecdotes from Canton and descriptions of the Society 
and Sandwich Islands. They often slip up the western 
coasts of their two continents; bring furs from the back 
regions of their own wide land; glance up at the Andes 
on their return; double Cape Horn; touch at the ports of 
Brazil and Guiana; look about them in the West Indies, 
feeling there almost at home; and land some fair morning 
at Salem and walk home as if they had done nothing very 
remarkable. ' ' ^^ 

The commercial history of the other states was, as in 
the case of Massachusetts, the development of their prin- 
cipal seaports, or the harbors to which they were accessible. 
As Pennsylvania surpassed the other states in her export 
trade immediately after the Revolution, Philadelphia was 
at that time looked upon as the first port in the Union. Its 
wharves offered a safe navigation. Priest says, for vessels 
of a thousand tons burden.^^ In 1792, a total of 420,000 
barrels of flour was shipped from this port. Into it came 
not only the produce of the greater part of the territory 
east of the Alleghanies, but that of New Jersey and Dela- 

soMartineau, II, 67-69; Hall, B., II, 141. 
31 Priest, p. 26; Palmer, p. 257. 



TRADE AND FINANCE 189 

ware as well. In 1793, according to Priest, 1414 vessels 
of different sizes entered her harbor to trade.^^ 

Because of her superior natural advantages. New York 
quickly surpassed Philadelphia as a trading port. It is 
difficult to say whether her imports or exports were more 
important. Strangers saw on her wharves produce, both 
agricultural and manufactured, from the New England 
states, from New Jersey, and from her own prosperous and 
hustling counties. She was the center of the import trade 
of cotton from the Southern states; her harbors were full 
of shipping, the greater part of it in the coasting trade.^^ 
Melish says that her exports amounted in 1805 to over 
$23,500,000; her imports to $25,000,000.^* The revenue 
brought into the country by duties paid at this port is 
variously estimated at one-fifth, one-fourth, or even (in 
1822) two-thirds of the whole amount of duties in the 
United States.^^ 

Norfolk was, early in the history of the country, the 
largest commercial town in Virginia, and carried on a 
flourishing trade with the West Indies. Weld says it would 
have been greater if an unfortunate policy of the Vir- 
ginia legislature during the Revolution had not alienated 
the trade from Great Britain. The state had declared that 
all merchants owing debts to England might liquidate those 
obligations by paying that amount toward the prosecution 
of the war against the British. After peace was declared, 
the British were of course not satisfied with this form of 
payment, and accused the Virginians of bad faith. An 
effort was finally made to reinstate them in the good graces 

32 Priest, p. 27; Holmes, p. 223. 

33 Holmes, p. 223; Murray, I, 52; Melish, I, 60-61. 

34 Melish, I, 60. 

35 Palmer, p. 301; D'Arusmont, p. 280; Lambert, II, 75; Holmes, 
p. 223; Neilson, p. 39. 



190 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

of England by paying the money, but tbe Britisb con- 
tinued to be reluctant to trade with that particular state.^^ 
Melish says, however, that the exports of Virginia in 1805 
were valued at $5,606,620, and the imports at nearly as 
much — half of the latter were from Great Britain." 

There seems to have been a curious reason given for the 
neglect of Annapolis as a trading port, in favor of Balti- 
more. Annapolis had an ideal situation, a healthful climate, 
and above all, a fine harbor. ''But," says Priest, ''un- 
fortunately these advantages were rendered abortive by the 
bite of a small insect; the worms are so troublesome in 
those waters that a vessel lying in this harbor during the 
summer months will be as full of holes as a honey-comb." 
Baltimore was apparently free from this pest because of 
the large proportion of fresh water in her harbors; ac- 
cordingly, she drew all the trade from her rival. At the 
time when Priest wrote, Annapolis had only one square- 
rigged vessel belonging to her port, while Baltimore had 
several hundreds.^^ In 1805, Melish says, the exports and 
imports of Maryland, practically all of which passed 
through Baltimore, were valued at more than $10,000,000 
each.^^ 

Wilmington, North Carolina; Charleston, South Caro- 
lina; and Savannah, Georgia, represented the three me- 
diums of commerce in their respective states; in regard to 
the first, very little is said;*° the other two were world- 
famous ports. Through Charleston went an enormous 
trade, chiefly in cotton. Before the Revolution, South 
Carolina had a very promising commerce which fell off 

36 Weld, I, 170-171. 

37 Melish, I, 239. 

38 Priest, pp. 15-16. 

39 Melish, I, 190. 

40 Lambert, II, 491. 



TRADE AND FINANCE 191 

greatly during the war, according to Lambert, as tlie labor 
of the slaves had to be turned from raising cotton and 
tobacco to the domestic manufacture of goods hitherto im- 
ported from Great Britain. After the war, her agriculture 
and trade increased rapidly. ''In 1801, 1274 ships entered 
the port of Charleston, of which 875 belonged to that port ; 
the rest were chiefly British vessels." ^^ In 1805, by Meiish's 
report, the exports of the state amounted to $9,060,525, with 
probably as much more through the medium of the North- 
ern ports; the average of tariff duties at Charleston for 
four years ending in 1805 was $3,031,639. This traveller 
also says that Savannah, Georgia, in 1810, employed ''thir- 
teen regular ships to Britain, fifteen packet brigs and 
schooners to New York ; two or three to Philadelphia, Bal- 
timore, and Boston ; two or three sloops to Charleston, and 
four or five vessels to the West Indies."*^ Besides a con- 
siderable amount of rice, Georgia exported the famous 
"Sea Island" cotton, the finest in the country. Savannah 
was the only shipping port in the state; her exports early 
in the century averaged over $2,000,000 annually, besides 
what was carried in her coasting trade. 

Most of the surplus produce of the West went down the 
Mississippi to New Orleans, though some of it was said to 
be transported to Philadelphia and Baltimore by way of 
Pittsburg, over which route there was likewise imported to 
the Western towns a great deal of East Indian and Eu- 
ropean goods.*^ As certain places near the Ohio were settled 
by emigrants from New England, they partook of the com- 
mercial spirit of the older settlements, and maintained a 
flourishing trade."** 

41 Lambert, II, 212-214, 347; Melish, I, 283; Tudor, II, 519; 
Neilson, p. 329. 42 Melish, I, 26-27. 

43 Melish, II, 194; Palmer, p. 74. 
44 See Melish, II, 102, also 234. 



192 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

The promise shown by the city of New Orleans has per- 
haps been elsewhere sufficiently emphasized. Ashe pointed 
out that she received exports from the region of the upper 
Missouri, from the western part of Pennsylvania, from Ken- 
tucky, Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana, from the territory west 
of the Mississippi drained by the White, the Red, and the 
Black Rivers, from New Mexico, Florida, and Georgia. 
This same traveller remarked in 1806 : ' ' the city is a depot 
of all the various wealth and productions of countries ex- 
tending from it for two to three thousand miles in many 
directions. . . . Besides becoming the necessary depot of 
such extravagant wealth, it has strong advantages from its 
own situation; it stands on the very bank of the most 
perfect course of freshwater navigation in the world; it 
is but 100 miles from the sea, within a few days' sail of 
Mexico, of the French, Spanish and British Islands in the 
West Indies, and lies open to, and trades with Russia, 
Sweden, Denmark, Hamburgh, United Provinces, Great 
Britain, Austria, Netherlands, Germany, France, Spain, 
Portugal, Italy, Morocco, and several parts of Africa, 
China, and various Asiatic countries, and the north-west 
coast of North, and the East coast of South America."*' 

The importance to the central American government of 
all this wealth of commerce, especially that of the import 
trade, was seen to be very great. The United States had two 
chief sources of revenue, the sale of the public lands and 
the duties on imports. She was therefore compelled to 
face the question of a protective tariff early in her history. 
The attitude of Englishmen may be easily surmised.*^ 

45 Ashe, pp. 338-339. 

46 For English attitude toward the tariff, see Martineau, II, 46 ff. ; 
Tudor, II, 459; Hamilton, I, 190-191, 197, 199-202; Hodgson, II, 
72 flf.; Vigne, II, 238-239; Hall, B., II, 101-106; Candler, p. 436; 
Boardman, pp. 215-216. 



TRADE AND FINANCE 193 

They rose against the tariff to a man, and deplored gen- 
erally the unnatural interest in domestic manufactures on 
the part of the Americans. The United States had such a 
great extent of territory; they were increasing so rapidly 
in wealth and population — "why trammel industry with 
artificial restrictions?" They should ''refrain from coun- 
teracting the beneficence of nature, and tranquilly enjoy 
the many blessings . . . placed within their reach." No 
good was to be gained by leading American industry by 
roads which it would not have followed naturally, espe- 
cially when such a course involved enriching one part of 
the country at the expense of another. Why should Amer- 
ica anticipate a state of independence of other countries 
when it was well-known that the welfare of any nation was 
only promoted by intercourse and a reciprocity of advan- 
tages? Then too, it must be remembered that a high duty 
encourages smuggling, which would be a simple matter on 
America's extensive coast-line, and the moral effects of 
which would be appalling. 

Holmes says that after the peace of 1815, great ship- 
loads of English goods flooded the American market, and 
were sold at auction at very high prices. This utterly 
crippled the domestic manufacture of certain kinds, espe- 
cially that of cotton and woolen goods.*^ Then began a 
struggle on the part of native manufacturers to bring 
about a higher duty on imported goods, for home protec- 
tion. Fearon gives in full an example of the kind of peti- 
tion that was sent to Congress repeatedly by manufacturing 
communities. This one is from the people of Oneida 
County, New York, to the Senate (Jan. 7, 1818), urging 
the imposition of a higher tariff. It disclaims any attempt 
to introduce any general system of manufactures into the 
United States, but merely emphasizes the need of encourag- 
*7 Holmes, p. 192. 



194 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

ing and protecting those that already exist.** This type 
of petition was answered by protests from the agricultural 
societies of the various states, especially those in the South, 
which accused the manufacturers of trying to solicit a 
monopoly. Faux gives an example of one from Virginia.*^ 
Thus the struggle continued, a source of great interest to 
foreigners, some of whom, Tudor, for instance, warned the 
Americans that therein lay the seeds of discord and of 
ultimate separation. ^^ 

There was also to be considered the question of Eng- 
land's prohibition of American importations. Was Eng- 
land too generous in her policy, and should she impose a 
duty on raw cotton, for instance, especially if it were car- 
ried in American ships? Many loyal Englishmen believed 
that the mother-country was far too careless of her own 
profit in her dealings with the shrewd Yankees. Others 
held quite the opposite opinion. ''If we persist in refus- 
ing to admit her corn into Great Britain," says one travel- 
ler, "she must of necessity limit her importation of our 
manufactures; for her consumption is bounded by her 
means of payment, and by that alone. Had our Govern- 
ment been sufficiently alive to this consideration, they 
would surely have paused before they crushed an incipient 
trade, and dried up a new source of payment, by the im- 
position of a duty of 6 d. per pound on the importation of 
raw wool. ' ' ^^ 

The question of free trade or protection was indeed a 
puzzling one. It was obvious that all the interests of the 
country could not be served, and the dilemma thus created 
within this period was not to be avoided in spite of heroic 
efforts to do so. 

■isFearon, pp. 296-298. *9 Faux, p. 117. 

50 Tudor, II, 459; Vigne, I, 258; Hall, B., II, 102-103. 

51 Hodgson, II, 73; Ferrall, pp. 336-337. 



TRADE AND FINANCE 195 

The whole financial administration of the United States 
aroused, as a system, the greatest admiration from ob- 
servers. It brought about such satisfactory results in in- 
crease of revenues and in efficiency at so small an expense. ^^ 
''There can be little doubt," said the traveller Ouseley, 
''that both theoretically and practically, it is the cheapest 
government that could be established in a country of such 
extent in the present day." It has already been remarked 
that the absence of heavy taxes and tithes contributed 
largely to the popularity of the United States as an ob- 
jective point in emigration. So light was the excise in the 
early days of the republic, Wansey said, that the whole 
internal revenue did not make more than one-seventh of the 
national income. The few impositions were those that were 
absolutely necessary for the maintenance of schools, the 
keeping up of roads, etc. It is curious to see how small 
the expenses of the central government were. Even as 
late as 1831, the total for the year was estimated by Ouseley 
at only $30,967,201, one-half of which went toward the 
payment of the public debt. The expense of the whole 
judiciary of the country at that time was reckoned at only 
$395,866. The post-office was intended to pay for itself and 
practically did so, Ouseley says; turnpikes were kept up 
by tolls which were relatively high, owing to the scattered 
settlement of the population ; in short, the Federal burden 
that fell upon the citizens of the United States might per- 
haps be estimated at one dollar per person, annually, aside 
from the money that went toward the public debt.^^ One 
of the greatest sources of expense was the army, which 
although it numbered only 6000, Ouseley says in 1832, cost 

52 Ouseley, p. 68 (quotation) ; Cooper, p. 210; Wansey, p. 176. 

53 Ouseley, p. 176. See Ouseley generally for information con- 
cerning the financial affairs of the United States. His work was 
based on government documents. Holmes, p. 121. 



196 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

$4,200,000 annually. The traveller quotes General Bernard 
in the statement that this great item was partly accounted 
for by the fact that the American soldier v^^as a volunteer 
and demanded the high wages paid to all labor at this 
time. The sum included, too, a large amount annually 
voted for the manufacture of muskets and small arms and 
of artillery, and for the expense of raising fortifications, 
etc.^^ To the navy was devoted a sum averaging $2,500,000 
a year, the greater part of which went into building new 
war-vessels.^^ It was maintained that both army and navy 
could be doubled in number without much added outlay 
of money.^^ Another expense was the sum paid to the 
Indian tribes, a total which, about 1830, amounted to ap- 
proximately one-twentieth of the whole American budget.^'' 
In spite of these expenses, the United States at this time, 
it was said, was saving money every year. Holmes says 
that as late as 1823, the government receipts amounted to 
$2,000,000 more than the expenditures.^^ In 1832, the 
expenses amounted to $13,000,000 exclusive of the public 
debt, while the country's revenue was estimated at over 
$30,000,000, of which $26,000,000 was from the customs, 
$3,000,000 from the public lands, $490,000 from bank divi- 
dends, and $110,000 from incidental receipts. In this last 
class was included such income as that derived from 
"spirits distilled in the United States, . . . postage on let- 
ters, taxes on patents . . . snuff manufactured in the 
United States, sugar refined here, sales at auction, licenses 
to retail wines and distilled spirits, carriages for the con- 
veyance of persons, stamped paper, direct taxes. "^^ The 

54 0useley, p. 118; Holmes, p. 118; Hamilton, II, 58. 

55 Holmes, p. 118. 

56 0useley, pp. 118-119. 

57 Ibid., p. 120. 

58 Holmes, p. 116. 

59 See Ouseley, pp. 176-177. Tudor, II, 478, gives the same table. 



TRADE AND FINANCE 197 

form of revenue was criticised by many foreigners as being 
insecure and inefficient, and too susceptible to loss in value 
in case of adverse circumstances, a protracted foreign 
war, for example. Revenue from imports was character- 
ized too as ''internal taxation," in fact if not in name, 
for one-half of the amount collected was from British 
goods, not luxuries but necessities, so that the population 
of America was in reality helping to pay the taxes of 
Great Britain as well as defraying the expenses of their 

Bristed says that the cost of the Revolution was about 
$135,000,000, of which half was paid during the war by 
taxes levied at the time.^^ When the Federal government 
assumed the state debts, the whole financial burden which 
lay upon the country amounted to over $75,000,000, which 
by 1812 had been reduced to about $45,000,000. The sec- 
ond war with Great Britain increased it to over $121,- 
000,000.^2 jjq^ rapidly it was being paid off during the 
twenty years from 1815 to 1835, may be inferred from a 
table given by an English traveller for the ten years 1821 
to 1830 inclusive. About $2,000,000 was paid each year on 
the interest and an average of $6,000,000 to $7,000,000 on 
the principal. In 1824, over $11,000,000 was paid on 
the latter, and, in 1832, the last date in our period for 
which English travellers give us any figures, the debt 
was reduced to about $24,000,000.^3 "The national debt," 
says Ferrall in that year, "will be totally extinguished in 
four years, when this country will present a curious spec- 
tacle for the serious consideration of European nations. 

60 Bristed, p. 57; Fearon, p. 384; Neilson, p. 220; Holmes, p. 120. 

61 Bristed, p. 72. See also Coxe, Tench, p. 496. See Pitkin, pp. 
307-309. 

62 Lambert, II, 494; Bristed, pp. 74, 76. 

63 Ouseley, pp. 176-177, 204; Bristed, p. 72; Holmes, p. 116; 
Tudor, II, 480; Ferrall, p. 238. 



198 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

During the space of fifty-six years, two successful wars 
have been carried on — one for the establishment, and the 
other for the maintenance of national independence, and 
a large amount of public works and improvements has 
been effected; yet after the expiration of four years from 
this time, there will not only be no public debt, but the 
revenue arising from protecting tariff duties alone will 
amount to more than the expenditure by upwards of 
10,000,000 dollars." He adds that the president has sug- 
gested that the surplus revenue should be divided among 
the states in proportion to their representation.^* 

Several English travellers explain the currency system 
of the country. This was provided for in 1786 on the 
basis of the decimal system. Theoretically, eight coins 
were put out in three metals, but the copper cent and half- 
cent were not issued until 1792 and the gold coin until 1800, 
when the mint was established in the new Federal city. 
That the new system of coinage was much needed is very 
evident. Scarcely three of the states, we are told, agreed 
as to the value of a dollar. "In South Carolina [it was] 
four shillings and eight pence, at New York eight shillings, 
and in the New England states, six shillings." Priest 
says that in spite of the superiority of the new system, the 
government had great difficulty in persuading the people 
to abandon their old currency of pounds, shillings, and 
pence for practical use.^^ 

At the close of the Revolution, the country was flooded 
with paper money which was issued both by the Govern- 
ment and by the separate states, and which circulated side 
by side with a varied assortment of foreign coins of all 

64Ferrall, p. 234. 

65 On currency system of the United States, see Melish, II, 451- 
453; Palmer, pp. 264-265; Shirreff, Preface, iii; Wansey, p. 154; 
Neilson, p. 140; Priest, pp. 63-65; Woods, pp. 187-188. 



TRADE AND FINANCE 199 

denominations. This paper money was an inconvenience, 
to say the least. Great was the stranger's discomfiture 
to find that the notes which he had bought in a certain 
town decreased in value the farther he went from the 
place. Fearon said that if he had understood the sys- 
tem when he landed in America, he could nearly have 
paid his expenses by buying in one place the notes of that 
to which he was going.^® In 1818-20, the paper of Western 
banks was 30% under par in the East, according to James 
Flint. ^^ The notes of unchartered banks especially were 
often bought in a distant town at from 10 to 40% dis- 
count.^® Very little specie was seen. Isaac Holmes states 
that sometimes a bank which was circulating notes for mil- 
lions of dollars would possess not more than $200,000 in 
real money. In 1828, the whole amount of gold and silver 
coined in the United States since the establishment of the 
Government was only about $23,000,000. Money was espe- 
cially rare in the West, where a system of barter neces- 
sarily took its place.^^ Blane says that nowhere was the 
state of affairs worse than in Kentucky, after the close 
of the War of 1812. By the flooding of the state with 
paper money, and the subsequent contracting of the cur- 
rency to specie on the part of the Federal government, hun- 
dreds of people were ruined. In 1822, paper in Kentucky 
was only half the value of specie. '*No such thing as a 
silver coin of any kind was to be seen in circulation, and 
notes of 4, 614 and 12i/^ cents formed a substitute for 
copper." As anyone was at liberty to issue these and 
other promissory notes below the value of a dollar, worth- 
less money flooded the country.'^*' 

66 Fearon, p. 233; Duncan, II, 309. 

67 Flint, p. 136. 

68 Fearon, pp. 232-233. 

69 Holmes, p. 211, also p. 213; Candler, p. 442; Blane, p. 256; 
Brothers, p. 63. 7 Blane, pp. 256-257; Faux, p. 119. 



200 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

To avoid the use of this valueless paper, the people 
resorted to the curious scheme of cutting a silver or a 
Spanish gold dollar into quarters or eighths and using the 
parts for small change. Many travellers speak of having 
been obliged to resort to this ' ' cut money, " as it was called. 
The custom was liable to abuse, of course, as unscrupulous 
people often cut a dollar into five or nine parts and passed 
the pieces off as fourths and eighths. ^^ 

Most of the comments on the banking system made by 
travellers during these years, reveal the lack of organiza- 
tion and the general confusion that prevailed. Several ob- 
servers give us the history of the United States Bank, which 
came into existence in 1791 with a charter which was to ex- 
tend over a period of twenty years.'^^ The first differences 
between the Federalists and the Democrats had to do with 
the bank system. Owing to the outbreak of the war with 
Great Britain, and the unpopularity of the Federalists at 
the time the charter expired, the latter was not renewed, 
and the United States Bank ceased to exist. Vigne says 
that in three years the loss to the country was estimated 
at not less than $46,000,000. In 1816, the second bank was 
incorporated at Philadelphia, with a twenty-year charter 
and a capital of $35,000,000. Seventy thousand shares 
were subscribed by the government, about one-fifth of the 
whole. It was the beautiful, white marble building of this 
institution that many observers commented on. It was 
copied from the Parthenon, with a Doric portico, and Ionic 
pillars brought from Italy. 

It is difficult to trace after this the rapid increase in 
banks. In 1818, James Flint remarked that even in Ken- 

71 For "cut money," see Fearon, p. 232; Flint, pp. 130-131; Blane, 
p. 257. 

72 For United States bank, see Martineau, II, 76-85; Vigne, I, 
46 ff., 54; Coke, I, 50-51; Tudor, I, 89-90. 



TRADE AND FINANCE 201 

tucky, there were two branches of the United States bank, 
thirteen of the Kentucky bank, and fifty independent insti- 
tutions, some of which were not in active operation. In 
Ohio, he says, there were thirty chartered banks, and a few 
others which had not yet ''obtained that pernicious dis- 
tinction."^^ Dalton explains the difference between char- 
tered and unchartered banks. The chartered banks were 
in the hands of stockholders, who thus became proportion- 
ately responsible to the community for the debts of the 
bank; in an unchartered bank, everything rested on the 
credit of the proprietor."^* So intense did the ''bank 
mania" become that riots occurred sometimes at sales of 
stock. "^^ "Institutions have been suffered to multiply until 
almost every village has its bank," says one traveller in 
1821.'^^ Of course the majority were doomed to destruc- 
tion, and their money was refused in all government trans- 
actions. According to James Flint, the paper of only two 
of all the banks in Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee 
was accepted in 1820 in payment for public lands." Hodg- 
son says that, because of the bank mania, more than one- 
half of the city of Richmond and one-third of Baltimore 
were mortgaged in 1820, as real estate had fallen 50 to 

By 1832, we are told, the United States Bank had estab- 
lished branch institutions in twenty-two of the principal 
•',ommercial cities in the Union.'^^ Several years before 
1836, the time of the expiration of the charter, rumor stated 

73 Flint, p. 133; Fearon, p. 282. 

74 Dalton, p. 61. 

75 Brothers, p. 54. 

76 Dalton, p. 60. 

77 Flint, p. 219. 

78 Hodgson, II, 85. 

79 Coke, I, 51; Vigne, I, 54. 



202 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA. 

that the latter would not be renewed. Most of the ob- 
servers who touched upon this matter analyzed Jackson's 
reasons for vetoing the renewal. He objected on the 
grounds that the bank was a monopoly, that it had failed 
to establish a uniform and sound currency, and that a large 
proportion of those owning and managing it were foreign- 
ers, who, in case of war, could turn the funds to the advan- 
tage of their own country. The government deposits were 
withdrawn from the Bank of the United States in 1833, 
and it was proposed to establish a national institution, 
founded on the credit of the government and its revenues.®** 

80 Tudor, II, 461-462; Abdy, II, 128; Martineau, II, 84-85; Coke, 
I, 51-52. 



CHAPTER VIII 
EDUCATION AND LITERATURE 

The general diffusion of education in America filled every 
citizen of the United States with pride, and offered to the 
visitor the clue to much that was distinctive in American 
life. Contrary to the policy that prevailed in most Eu- 
ropean nations, the government here took a hand, immedi- 
ately after the settlement of the country, and, through its 
wise ruling, it was brought about that the English traveller, 
as he passed through the various states, saw practically no 
native American of school age or over who could not at 
least read and write and ' ' cast accounts. ' ' ^ This univer- 
sality of education was looked upon as one of the most 
promising indications of the future prosperity and stability 
of the Union. ''The wise men of the United States," we 
are told, "know that the maintenance of their liberties 
greatly depends upon having an enlightened population 
who are capable of appreciating the advantages they en- 
joy; for despotism is more strongly supported by ignorance 
than by armed thousands. " ^ It was not until near the end 
of our period that universal education became a problem, 
owing to the thousands of foreign emigrants that annually 
entered American ports. In the thirties, the traveller Abdy 
noticed a quite different state of affairs from that which 

1 For comments on the universality of education, see Vigne, II, 
71-72; Holmes, p. 382; Duncan, I, 110; Bristed, pp. 318-319; Blane, 
p. 480; Hodgson, I, 144-145 (also note); Murray, II, 201. 

2 Blane, pp. 480-481. 

203 



204 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA. 

prevailed in earlier days. As he quotes from the '' Ameri- 
can Annals of Education," one is forced to believe him, 
pessimist though he usually is, when he says that in 1833, 
there were more than a million free white children in the 
United States left without an education. More than this, 
another million of youth between the ages of fifteen and 
twenty had no chance to acquire anything beyond the most 
rudimentary instruction.^ 

In the promotion of public education, New England was 
always far in advance of the other sections of the country, 
perhaps, as it was suggested, because of the greater democ- 
racy of her colonial institutions.* In 1800, the towns were 
authorized to raise money by taxation to build and furnish 
schoolhouses. Before that time, it was said, the work had 
gone on in the basements of churches, or in any other place 
that was convenient. Usually there were two terms a year ; 
one in the summer, taught by a young woman, who had 
usually small children and girls in her classes, as the boys 
and young men were employed at that time in agricultural 
labor; another throughout the winter, usually taught by a 
young man. The curriculum was more extensive than in 
the summer session and offered to both boys and girls in- 
struction in *' reading, writing, arithmetic, English gram- 
mar, geography, the Constitution of the United States, the 
Constitution of Massachusetts, and the dictionary." 

This early system, travellers tell us, was extended in 
Massachusetts to include the whole progress of a child ^s 
education from four to seventeen years of age, or until he 
entered college. We are told by Stuart that in 1829 there 
were sixty-eight free schools in Boston alone, at which there 

3 Abdy, II, 333. 

4D'Aru8mont, p. 306; Hamilton, I, 217-220; Boardman, p. 294; 
Rich, p. 80; see p. 76 ff. for history of American public schools; 
Shirreff, p. 53. 



EDUCATION AND LITERATURE 205 

were taught (besides reading, writing, and arithmetic) 
bookkeeping, ancient and modern languages, grammar, 
mathematics, navigation, geography, history, logic, political 
economy, rhetoric, and moral and natural philosophy. 
Shirreif criticises this statement of Stuart's and says that 
it refers to the grammar schools only. The teachers for 
this higher instruction were required to be college gradu- 
ates.^ In 1831, Tudor estimates that there were 10,000 chil- 
dren in the public schools of Boston alone f out of a popu- 
lation of 60,000 in Massachusetts, about this time, according 
to Stuart, there were only 400 beyond the age of childhood 
who could neither read nor write.'^ In 1828, the school 
tax in the state was said to be about $3.50 upon every thou- 
sand of income, an imposition which fell heavily upon no 
one; least of all, upon the poor. Some Englishmen won- 
dered that the latter did not consider themselves objects 
of charity under the system, but this consideration seems to 
have had little weight in New England, where free educa- 
tion was accepted as one of the prerogatives of the Ameri- 
can citizen.^ 

It is impossible to take up in detail the progress of the 
establishment of free schools in all of the states. The 
trend of education, like that of the settlement of the coun- 
try, was gradually westward, and the problems of Massa- 
chusetts were repeated with local variations in all of the 
states. Connecticut's educational fund came from the in- 
terest on money from sales of land in New Connecticut, a 
great tract of land in northern Ohio. There was a close 

5 Stuart, I, 206-207; also Shirreff, pp. 53-54. 

6 Tudor, I, 373. 

7 Stuart, I, 206, says 60,000 (in 1829); this is probably a mis- 
print for 600,000, as the census report gives the population of 
Massachusetts in 1830 as 603,359. 

8 See Hall, B., II, 165-166; also Rich, p. 77. 



206 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

connection in this state between the educational and 
ecclesiastical systems, which is said to have entailed com- 
plications all through this period.^ New York made brave 
efforts for a free school system, especially during the gov- 
ernorship of DeWitt Clinton, but she was seen to be encum- 
bered with a large board of Regents of the University of 
the State of New York. The public school system was not 
fully established till 1821/° New Jersey and Delaware 
were more backward still. Both states possessed plenty of 
academies, but were deplorably deficient in elementary free 
schools.^^ Pennsylvania was still struggling with her edu- 
cational problems in 1835, when a traveller observed that 
though she was one of the wealthiest and most populous 
states in the Union, she had done less for the education of 
her people than had many of the inferior states. The situ- 
ation was said to be complicated here by the high price paid 
for child labor in the factories, and the consequent indif- 
ference to the claims of education on the part of the poorer 
classes.^^ Maryland's schools were, for the most part, 
private institutions, or the kind established by benevolent 
or ecclesiastical societies. ^^ In Virginia, there were two 
colleges, Melish says, one of which, William and Mary, was 
highly endowed; also several academies, but the education 
of the masses was neglected.^^ One Englishman, in 1834, 
made inquiries concerning the public schools of Richmond. 
He found there were none, ''but then, there were capital 
races. The training that was denied to the children was 

9 For Connecticut's schools, see Blane, p. 472 flf. ; Hamilton, I, 
216; Duncan, I, 109; Kendall, I, 106-107, also Chap. XX^aiF. 

10 For New York school system, see Dalton, p. 96 ; Boardman, 
p. 69; Abdy, I, 9, also 26-27. 

11 Melish, I, 146, 181. 

12 Abdy, III, 157. 

13 Melish, I, 190. 

14 Melish, I, 241-242. 



EDITCATION AND LITERATURE 207 

given to the horses. ' ' Virginia had, just at this time, given 
over to one college one-third of the money she had granted 
for schools, and the provision had aroused little or no 
opposition/^ The case was the same in North Carolina, 
the inhabitants of which had granted half of her money to 
.academies. In Georgia, a great deal of attention was said 
to be paid to the school system. The college at Athens was 
well endowed, provision was made for an academy in every 
county, and there were some good common schools, but 
there was admitted to be still room for inprovement. South 
Carolina, too, had a college at Columbia, and several other 
colleges and academies throughout the state. The towns, 
especially Charleston, were rather well supplied with 
schools, but those in the country districts were very poor. 
In 1832, the state was reported to have educated in her 
free schools only 8,390 children. Melish says in justifica- 
tion of all the Southern states that the population was too 
thin to admit of the establishment of such schools as existed 
in the North.^^ 

In the West, the difficulty of administering the public 
lands donated to education was increased by the natural 
obstacles to concerted action. Here, too, Melish intimates 
that the mistake was made of beginning at the top rather 
than at the bottom, of encouraging the founding of colleges 
at the expense of elementary education.^" That the diffu- 
sion of education throughout the Union was, in spite of all 
difficulties, so general as to be almost invariably commented 
on by the foreigner, speaks volumes for the substantial na- 
ture of the curriculum of all these free schools. This was 
strictly utilitarian, and was in most cases limited to read- 

15 Abdy, II, 212-213, 253-254. 

16 For other comments on Southern schools, see Melish, I, 263, 
284, 291; Abdy, II, 254-255; Wakefield, p. 69. 

17 Melish, II, 187, 220. 



208 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

ing, writing, and arithmetic, the last of which was said to 
come ''by instinct, among this guessing, reckoning, expect- 
ing and calculating people." ^^ That this practical curri- 
culum was considered the best-fitted for a republican popu- 
lation by some foreigners is evident. Duhring remarked in 
regard to it: *'If possible, occasion must be given to every 
person to instruct himself in the general principles of 
true religion, in his moral and civil duties, in reading and 
writing, in the fundamentals of arithmetic, and of some 
mechanical art, or of some handicraft work. You may 
without risk of harm instruct the people in the general 
outlines of geography and history, but no farther. More 
is neither wanted nor desirable for the well-being of the 
social system. " ^^ A certain amount of education was said 
to be carried on in the home, especially in the isolated West- 
ern districts settled by Eastern emigrants, and on the plan- 
tations of the South.^° 

In many parts of the Union, exclusive of the New Eng- 
land states, the Americans adopted a type of elementary 
education which proved very useful.^^ This was the Lan- 
castrian system of public schools, which had been instituted 
in America by Joseph Lancaster in 1818. Its application 
was observed to be very practical; it instituted a monitor 
and pupil-teacher scheme by which the older and more 
advanced students helped to teach and look after the 
younger ones. Certain advantages were obvious where 
funds were low, teachers scarce, and the desire for primary 
education great. Several travellers mention visits to these 

18 Hamilton, I, 217; ShirreflF, p. 55. 

19 Duhring, p. 138. 

2oMelish, I, 241-242; Duhring, p. 144. 

21 For discussion of Lancastrian schools, see Fearon, p. 38; Ham- 
ilton, I, 83-84; Holmes, p. 382; Duncan, I, 235; Hall, B., I, 26; 
Ferrall, p. 204. 



EDUCATION AND LITERATURE 209 

schools. They were to be seen in the greatest number in 
Pennsylvania, though many of them existed in New York 
State, and they were found here and there throughout the 
South and West. Ferrall visited in New Orleans two 
schools of this type supported by taxes on five gambling 
houses. Lancastrian schools met with a great deal of 
criticism on the score of sacrificing the interests of the 
brighter students and retarding their progress. 

The chief aim of the academies, which represented the 
degree of education above that of the elementary school, 
was to prepare for college. In 1815, there were 265 of these 
institutions in the country, and they differed from one an- 
other as much as our preparatory schools do today. Some 
of them were endowed, as those in the Southern states al- 
ready discussed. In all, a tuition fee was charged. About 
1818, Boston schools of this type were said to charge $100 
per annum for a classical education.-^ None of them, for a 
long time, admitted girls into the same school with boys. 
Mrs. Trollope visited a Cincinnati girls' school in which 
young ladies sixteen years old took degrees in mathematics 
and moral philosophy, not knowing very much about either, 
according to the author.^^ 

Some dissatisfaction was expressed by visitors at the 
lack of corporal punishment in American schools, though 
others regarded it as an improvement.^* Isaac Holmes re- 
marked that a serious hindrance to American education 
was the independent spirit of the children. It was noticed, 
too, that in a great many details, Americans followed the 
Scotch system rather than that of the English public 

22 For academies, see Rich, p. 80; Fearon, pp. 112-113. 

23 For education of girls, see Bristed, p. 371; Melish, II, 59; 
Mrs. Trollope, I, 114; Martineau, II, 226 ff. 

24 Holmes, p. 382; Hamilton, I, 85 ff., also 217; D'Arusmont, pp. 
310-311; Fidler, p. 40 ff. 



210 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

schools, as being more suited to their character and aims.^^ 
Many things in the English system were repugnant to 
Americans, for instance, the ''fagging," which might have 
a salutary effect on a society in which class distinctions 
existed, but which no independent American youth would 
J have tolerated.^® 

In spite of the fact that the college seemed to flourish 
at the expense of the common school in so many of the 
states, there seems to have been among visitors a great deal 
of criticism of the higher education which they observed. 
In the first place, a comparatively small proportion of the 
population went to college.^^ Tudor says that in 1827 the 
entire number of students in the New England colleges 
amounted to 1,399 ; 431 of these came from Massachusetts. 
Then, higher education in America was charged with being 
superficial ;^® the curriculum embraced too many subjects to 
insure careful training in each. ''The process of mental 
cultivation in America," said Murray, "is somewhat ana- 
logous to their agricultural system; in both cases they 
look too extensively to the quantity of produce immediately 
to be obtained and pay too little attention to the culture 
and improvement of the soil." In four years the average 
American college student skimmed lightly over a field which 
might well occupy one's attention for a lifetime. Neces- 
sarily, the standard of acquirement was low. An English- 
man quotes in italics an extract from the report of the 
trustees of the University of Pennsylvania in regard to the 
course of study. "Its object is to communicate a profound 
and critical knoivledge of the classics; an extensive acquain- 

25Melish, I, 127; Shirreflf, p. 54; Hall, B., I, 26; Hamilton, I, 222. 
26Shirreff, pp. 55-56; D'Arusmont, p. 310; Hamilton, I, 85. 
27 Tudor, II, 523; Bristed, p. 328; Duncan, I, 171-172; Ouseley, 
p. 201. 

28Latrobe, II, 65; Rich, p. 83; Murray, I, 162, II, 209. 



EDUCATION AND LITERATURE 211 

tance with the different branches of mathematical science^ 
natural philosophy, and chemistry, combined with all the 
varieties af knowledge comprehended within the sphere of 
moral philosophy, logic, rhetoric, metaphysics, and the 
evidences of Christianity. This course of instruction will 
occupy FOUR YEARS." ^^ The Americans were in too 
much of a hurry to be thoroughly educated ; the young men 
were too anxious to get out into the world of affairs, to 
marry, perhaps to seek their fortunes in the West.^° No 
one seemed to appreciate the intrinsic value of higher edu- 
cation, and the policy of the states was a parsimonious one 
in that they were slow to render pecuniary aid. The 
colleges therefore struggled in poverty and inefficiency, 
unable to command the services of such presidents and 
professors as might raise their standard. ''The phrenzy 
for multiplying colleges all over the Union," said Bristed, 
*'and the custom of appointing illiterate men as trustees, 
also retard the progress of literature by diminishing the 
number of students at each college, and thus lessening the 
means of its support, and by ensuring the appointment of 
absurd regulations and impractical plans of study." The 
number of colleges, however, was defended on the score that 
they achieved the aim for which they were founded — to 
produce not a very few learned scholars but more well- 
informed and liberal-minded citizens.^^ The usurpation 
of the professorial chairs by clergymen was sometimes de- 
plored. This custom prevailed in colleges of all denomina- 
tions, and was criticised on the score that the average 
American clergyman had not that wide culture which would 
redeem his lectures from narrow sectarianism.^^ 

29 Hamilton, I, 350-355. 

30 See Hall, B., II, 170; Mrs. TroUope, II, 177; Fidler, p. 60; 
Bristed, pp. 327-328; Duncan, I, 111. 

31 D'Arusmont, p. 307. 32 Bristed, p. 329. 



212 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

The attitude toward the classics, as indicated by the 
college curriculum, was another point at issue.^^ It was 
charged that they were too much neglected because they 
did not fit the student with practical equipment for his 
later busy existence. If the classics were not studied within 
the college walls, would they meet with any regard outside, 
asked the traveller. What was to give the American youth 
''that deep-laid foundation of knowledge which can resist 
the business and dissipation of life?" It wAs no wonder, 
then, that the wealthy young college graduates sought 
pleasure in horse-racing and billiards rather than in liter- 
ature. One cannot help being amused at the dismay which 
this insensibility to the nobler forms of literature caused 
the occasional traveller. The Rev. Isaac Fidler, in 1832, 
tried to establish a school in New York City for the study 
of the Eastern languages, but met with no success. "The 
Americans do not yet want anything with the East In- 
dies," said the friend whose advice he asked. "They are 
not colonizing other countries, but peopling their own; 
and have more need of being taught how to handle the axe 
or the spade than how to read the Hindoostanee. " "A 
little further inquiry," said the discomfited Fidler, 
" ... soon induced me to abandon the intention of 
opening a school for instruction in Eastern languages. ' ' ^* 

One of the earliest pictures that we have from travellers 
of an American college is given us by Weld, to whom we 
owe many vivid descriptions of institutions of various 
kinds. In 1795, he visited William and Mary College, an 
institution which he says Jefferson described as bearing a 
very close resemblance to a brick-kiln, except that it had a 

33 For attitude toward the classics, see Duhring, p. 135 ; Blane, 
p. 470; Hall, B., II, 169-170; Murray, II, 188; Fidler, p. 79; Mur- 
ray, I, 162, also II, 188, 209. 

34 Fidler, pp. 38-39. 



EDUCATION AND LITERATURE 213 

roof. ''The students were about thirty in number when I 
was there," he says; ''from their appearance, one would 
imagine that the seminary ought rather to be termed a 
grammar school than a college ; yet I understand the visit- 
ers since the present revolution, finding it full of young 
boys just learning the rudiments of Greek and Latin, a 
circumstance which consequently deterred others more ad- 
vanced from going there, dropped the professorships for 
these two languages, and established others in their place. 
The professorships as they now stand are for law, medicine, 
natural and moral philosophy, mathematics, and modern 
languages. The bishop of Virginia is president of the col- 
lege, and has apartments in the buildings. Half a dozen 
or more of the students, the eldest about twelve years old, 
dined at his table one day that I was there; some were 
without shoes and stockings, others without coats. During 
dinner, they constantly rose to help themselves at the side 
board. A couple of dishes of salted meat and some oyster 
soup formed the whole of the dinner. I only mention this, 
as it may convey some little idea of American colleges and 
American dignitaries. ' ' ^^ 

Harvard, as being the oldest and best known of thei 
American institutions, was most often visited by sight-see- 
ing foreigners.^^ As a result, many books of travel include; 
a description of this college, which seems to have impressed , 
the average visitor with no overwhelming admiration, * 
though there are many instances of politely eulogistic de- 
scription, especially by those observers who had letters of 
introduction to the president, or to some other officer of 

86 Weld, I, 167-168; Matthews, W., I, 171. 

36 For Harvard College in this period, see Tudor, I, 370-371 ; 
Duncan, I, 74 ff.; Finch, pp. 131-132; Bristed, p. 328; Kendall, III, 
11-17; Rich, p. 84; Hamilton, I, 165-166; Vigne, II, 230-231; Board- 
man, p. 293; Fidler, p. 66. 



214 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

the institution. Most of the visits recorded took place in 
the period from about 1820 to 1835. Duncan visited it in 
1818 or 1819 ; at the time it boasted twenty professorships, 
from three to four hundred students, and a library of over 
17,000 volumes. The latest mention of the institution in 
this period (in 1833) estimates the number of volumes in 
the library at 35,000. It was universally conceded to be 
the best collection of books in the country. ''The whole 
annual expenses of an undergraduate," says Vigne in 
1832, "do not amount to more than $250; for this he is 
boarded and instructed by the lectures of different pro- 
fessors on every subject from divinity to obstetrics and 
medical jurisprudence. ' ' " The study of the American 
constitution was always a part of the curriculum, as it was 
in all American colleges, and largely accounted, it was said, 
for the general diffusion of information in regard to the 
principles of government.^® 

Yale was the institution that, after Harvard, provoked 
the most interest.^® Its site was described with enthusiasm 
as being an ideal place for such a college. Wansey, who 
visited it in 1794, was much disappointed at the general 
poverty of the institution. He says that the library was 
especially poor, and the books in bad condition. Tudor says 
in 1829, that it had 496 students, who were boarded and 
educated for $125 a year. In 1833, we are told by Abdy, 
the average expense was $175 a year, and the number of 
students 541. "One sitting-room with two bed chambers 
is, as at Harvard College, appropriated to two students, 
who take their meals at a common table with the rest of 

37 Vigne, II, 231. 

38 See Palmer, p. 191. 

30 For Yale College in this period, see Duncan, I, 125 ff ., 147-148 ; 
Wansey, pp. 50-51; Tudor, II, 523; Abdy, III, 205-206; Kendall, I, 
Chap. XXVII. 



EDUCATION AND LITERATURE 215 

the community. There are two halls, at one of which the 
board is about one dollar seventy-five cents per week — at 
the other, one dollar twenty-five cents. ' ' The college at this 
time was under the care of the president, who also taught, 
six professors, and eight tutors. The curriculum included 
chemistry, with mineralogy and geology, mathematics in- 
cluding astronomy, rhetoric, divinity, Latin, and Greek. 

Other colleges that were sometimes visited were Colum- 
bia, Princeton, and the University of Pennsylvania. Board- 
man thus describes Columbia about 1830: ''It is a large 
and handsome stone building surrounded by noble trees. 
The number of students is considerable, and they enjoy 
the advantages of a good library, as well as an extensive 
philosophical apparatus. New plans are being formed, as 
the present plan of study is considered by many to be too 
strictly classical." Finch, about 1833, visited this institu- 
tion and was particularly impressed by the medical school, 
where he attended lectures by the celebrated Dr. Hosack. 
''The students attend lectures," he says, "on Botany, 
Chemistry, Surgery, Medicine, and Anatomy; and the most 
inattentive cannot fail to carry with them some fondness 
for those pursuits. ' ' **^ The University of Pennsylvania 
was also noted for its medical school. Thomas Hamilton 
says it w^as the most distinguished of American colleges out 
of New England. Princeton apparently was not much 
visited, perhaps because of its retired location. One travel- 
ler, however, says that it was as nearly perfect as an insti- 
tution of that kind could be. 

It must be confessed that foreign opinion of American 
literature throughout this period was not very high. Im- 
patient at the limitations of the Americans in this respect, 

40 For other colleges, see Boardman, p. 68 ; Finch, p. 23 ; Kendall, 
III, 195-197, 270; Neilson, p. 49; Hamilton, I, 348-349; Duncan, I, 
171-172; Finch, p. 281; Fidler, p. 58. 



216 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

many Englishmen gave the subject little real thought, and 
either criticised hastily, or dismissed the matter contemptu- 
ously, like Sydney Smith with his question — ''Who reads 
an American book?" In his attempt to account for this 
backwardness in literary matters, Bristed quotes Buff on 's 
theory that something peculiar in the soil and climate 
of America produced a constant diminution of physical and 
mental strength in her inhabitants, and says soberly that 
he cannot believe it.*^ Broad-minded visitors saw, back of 
the condition, certain causes which, as long as they oper- 
ated, would necessarily retard literary progress in America. 
''Literature in America is an amusement only," said 
Thomas Cooper in 1794. "... though not in abilities, 
the Americans are inferior to you in the opportunities of 
knowledge; their libraries are scanty, their collections are 
almost entirely of modern books; they do not contain the 
means of tracing the history of questions; this is a want 
which the literary people feel very much, and which it will 
take some years to remedy." *^ Bristed gives the best sum- 
mary of the conditions under which the Americans labored : 
"A comparatively thin population, spread over an im- 
mense surface, opposes many serious obstacles to the pro- 
duction and circulation of literary effusions; the infancy 
of its national independence, and the peculiar structure 
of its social institutions do not allow a sufficient accumula- 
tion of individual and family wealth to exist in the com- 
munity, so as to create an effectual demand for the costly 
or frequent publications of original works; the means of 
subsistence are so abundant, and so easy of attainment, and 
the sources of personal revenue so numerous, that nearly 
all the active talent in the nation is employed in prosecut- 
ing some commercial or agricultural or professional pur- 

41 Bristed, pp. 306-307. 

42 Cooper, p. 64; Howison, pp. 344-345. 



EDUCATION AND LITERATURE 217 

suit, instead of being devoted to the quieter and less lucra- 
tive labors of literature ; the scarcity of public libraries and 
of private collections of books, renders any great attain- 
ments in science and erudition exceedingly toilsome and 
difficult; the want of literary competition, rewards and 
honors, the entire absence of all government patronage, 
w^hether state or federal, together with the very generally 
defective means of liberal education, necessarily deter men 
of high talents from dedicating themselves solely to the 
occupation of letters ; and consequently prevent the appear- 
ance of those finished productions, whether in verse or 
prose, which can only find an existence when the efforts of 
genius are aided by undisturbed leisure and extensive 
learning. " *^ 

Some optimistic observers, nevertheless, were hopeful in 
spite of the situation. One could not yet expect, they said, 
that in the higher branches of literature and arts the 
Americans would equal the older nations, yet they were 
constantly making great progress, and were beginning to 
evince a growing taste for the better things of life. This 
improvement was sometimes attributed to their system of 
free education, or to the unshackled press, which dis- 
seminated knowledge of what was passing in the world.** 

On the other hand, the faults which we have already 
pointed out in the system of education, formed, to the 
minds of some travellers, an insuperable obstacle to the 
progress of American literature. Not until some wiser gen- 
eration should take control of American affairs and do 
away with the ''vulgar and unworthy sophistry" concern- 
ing education, would ignorance cease to be perpetuated. 
Particularly w^as this true of the clergy, who wielded a 
great influence, and whose education and training were, 
even as late as 1830, considered to be shockingly deficient. 

43Bristed, pp. 310-311. ** Fowler, p. 213. 



218 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA. 

Many saw in the conditions no promise for the future. **In 
the present generation of America," says Hamilton, **I 
can detect no symptoms of improving taste or increasing 
elevation of intellect. On the contrary, the fact has been 
irresistibly forced on my conviction, that they are alto- 
gether inferior to those whose place, in the course of 
nature, they are soon destined to occupy. Compared with 
their fathers, I have no hesitation in pronouncing the 
younger portion of the richer classes to be less liberal, less 
enlightened, less observant of the proprieties of life, and 
certainly far less pleasing in manner and deportment. ' ' *^ 

In spite of this lack of taste, and the indifference to 
literature that the average American displayed, it was 
generally agreed that many books were sold in the United 
States. The majority of these were reprints of foreign 
books, chiefly English, in their original dress, or in the 
cheaper American copy. It is interesting to see what 
English works were most in demand.*^ Novels and poetry 
were in the lead; they were imported immediately upon 
publication and quickly reprinted. Fearon says that in 
Philadelphia ''Manfred" was received, printed, and pub- 
lished all in one day. Walter Scott, Lady Morgan, Moore, 
Miss Edgeworth, Miss Porter, Lord Byron, and Mrs. Opie 
were all favorites. The popularity of the Waverley novels 
w^as a subject of frequent comment. Blane says that he 
met several gentlemen in St. Louis (1822) who had read 
them all, including "The Fortunes of Nigel," which had 

45 Hamilton, I, 358-359, 366-367. 

46 For discussions of the English books read by Americans, see 
Neilson, p. 76; Fearon, p. 35; Mrs. Trollope, I, 125-127, II, 155. 
See Wansey, Appendix, pp. 264-270, for partial list of books reprinted 
in America, also of original works. Alexander, II, 125-126; Howi- 
son, p. 343; Candler, p. 349; Martineau, II, 310-311; Duncan, I, 
108; Holmes, p. 381; Blane, p. 196; Fearon, p. 35; Bristed, p. 311. 



EDUCATION AND LITERATURE 219 

just been published. He was told that the books were re- 
ceived in that remote district fourteen to sixteen weeks af- 
ter their first appearance in England. ''Scott is idolized," 
said Miss Martineau, ''and so is Miss Edgeworth, but I 
think no one is so much read as Mr. Bulwer. I question 
whether it is possible to pass half a day in general society 
without hearing him mentioned." Hannah More was said 
to be more popular than Shakespeare — which fact was 
accounted an indication of the religious taste of the people, 
though her popularity was probably just as great in Eng- 
land at this time. Another favorite was Mrs. Hemans. 
Carlyle was declared to have a great influence through 
"Sartor Resartus," especially on the clergy, whose preach- 
ing in many cases he had been the means of regenerating. 
Wordsworth's admirers were few but enthusiastic, as was 
also the case with those of Lamb and Coleridge. 

Standard works, like those of Shakespeare, Milton, Blair, 
and Johnson were reprinted in great numbers, as were 
theological books of an orthodox nature. Bristed remarked 
that moral essays and history were not much read, and 
that books on metaphysics, political economy, and philos- 
ophy slept securely on the shelves. 

The knowledge of foreign literature other than English 
was limited to numerous light French novels, and to some 
scientific works in French. There was no interest in Span- 
ish or Portuguese literature, it was noticed. One traveller 
mourned the fact that Rousseau, Voltaire, and Diderot, 
who w^ere read by the older generations of Americans, had 
by 1830 become known "as naughty words rather than as 
great names." *^ In regard to the stream of French novels 
that came into the country, an American writer uttered a 
protest. "It might be expected that the injudicious in- 
struction of so many of our youth in a language which is 
47 Mrs. Trollope, II, 154. 



220 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

improperly regarded by many parents as a merely orna- 
mental accomplishment, without any care being taken to 
make it an introduction to profitable associates or useful 
books, would naturally lead too many to dangerous sources 
of amusement, . . . O, this business of learning modern 
languages is full of abuses. One abuse, however, sometimes 
prevents a greater one. It is a comfort, in this view, to 
reflect that probably not one in ten of those who pretend to 
learn French ever reads it, and not one in fifty, perhaps, 
ever speaks it. ' ' ^^ 

The more enlightened booksellers and publishers con- 
stantly tried to direct public taste into better channels. 
Many of these booksellers were men of property and educa- 
tion, and did much for the cause of literature in America. 
Philadelphia had a number of fine book shops, as well as a 
multitude of publishing houses, and more than one travel- 
ler mentions a visit at Eastburn 's in New York, or at Carey 
and Lea 's in Philadelphia, plac&s that were deservedly pop- 
ular.*^ The country suffered from lack of good reviews, 
and a consequent dearth of high standards of judgment. 
A great deal of trash was insistently demanded and 
promptly turned out by American publishers. ' ' The press 
teems," complained an English visitor, "with those mush- 
room productions of folly which are engendered by the 
conjunction of ignorance with impertinence. ' ' ^° 

The quality of the product of the American press was 
considered quite inferior to that of books printed in Eng- 
land.^^ The type was poor, and the paper of a cheap 

48 See "Notes of a Traveller" (anon.), p. 57. 

49 Rich, p. 103; Hamilton, I, 369; Davis, J., p. 225; Fearon, p. 
36; Lambert, II, 79; Hall, B., II, 358. 

soBristed, p. 311; Hall, B., II, 357. 

51 For remarks on the books printed in America, see Hall, F., 
p. 14; Hall, B., II, 357; Mrs. Trollope, I, 130; Lambert, II, 79; 
Fearon, p. 357 ff.; Hamilton, I, 371-374. 



EDUCATION AND LITERATURE 221 

quality ; the size of the book too, was reduced. One travel- 
ler says that the transformation of an English book to an 
American edition was sometimes very amusing. ''The 
metamorphosis reminds one of a lord changing clothes with 
a beggar. The man is the same, but he certainly owes noth- 
ing to the toilet." Englishmen complained that while 
Americans could hold copyright in England, the privilege 
was withheld from the foreigner in America, and that all 
English books were charged thirty per cent duty at Amer- 
ican ports. There was really no reason for this second re- 
striction, they said, as the expense of copyright in England 
and the cost of transportation served to keep the market 
for American books. 

''If the national mind of America be judged of by its 
legislation, it is of a very high order, ... If the American 
nation be judged by its literature, it may be pronounced to 
have no mind at all." So spoke an Englishwoman who 
prided herself on regarding sympathetically the land she 
was visiting.^2 It is quite evident that the majority of 
travellers who saw the scanty evidences of an American 
literature agreed with her. During this period, there were 
but few native writers who received any marked attention 
from outsiders. The best known of these was Irving, of 
whose work there were many criticisms,^^ and whose * ' Sal- 
magundi Papers" met with special approval. "This little 
work," remarked Lambert, "bids fair to be handed down 
with honor to posterity. It possesses more of the broad 
humor of Rabelais and Swift than the elegant morality of 
Addison and Steele, and is therefore less likely to become a 
classical work, but as a correct picture of the people of 

52Martineau, II, 300-301. 

53 See on Irving, Duncan, II, 298 ff . ; Lambert, II, 98 ; Fearon, 
p. 390; Hall, F., p. 15; Martineau, II, 306; Candler, pp. 373-374; 
Finch, p. 380; Bristed, pp. 359-360. 



222 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

New York and other parts of the country ... it will al- 
ways be read with interest by a native of the United 
States." ^'For amusement, wit, talent, and satire, I could 
conceive it could have few equals," said the critical Fearon. 
Lieutenant Francis Hall praised Irving 's ''History" by 
Diedrich Knickerbocker, whom he considered deserving of 
' ' a niche by the side of Cid Hamet Benengli, and the biog- 
rapher of my Uncle Toby." Miss Martineau was inclined 
to regard Irving indulgently as a writer who had enjoyed 
a certain amount of vogue which was already passing. 
Candler explained his popularity by the fact that he was 
such an anomaly in American literature that he aroused 
curiosity ; then, too, his position was enhanced by favorable 
articles in the English Quarterly Review, the publisher 
of which also brought out Irving 's ''Sketch Book." "He 
has the merit of a flowing, mellifluous style, ' ' said Candler, 
"produced by the collocation of the words in so artful a 
manner as to conceal the labour which has been be- 
stowed. ... He has been represented as almost a fault- 
less writer ; yet it may be observed that his words, however 
beautifully arranged, are often ill-chosen; that his narra- 
tives are unskillfully told ; and that his humor, happy as it 
sometimes is, is often as misplaced as roses in a garden by 
the side of poppies. If his famous tale of the Legend of 
Sleepy Hollow be read with attention, it will be found to 
contain numerous faults of the kind I have mentioned. ' ' 

While native tales depicting American life were gener- 
ally admired, the novels were not regarded with' much con- 
sideration.^* Judge Hall of Cincinnati and John P. Ken- 
nedy, author of "Swallow Barn," were ranked among the 
best known and most deserving of the story writers. Miss 

54Howison, p. 344; Latrobe, II, 67; Fearon, p. 386; Rich, pp. 128- 
129; Mrs. Trollope, II, 155, 158; Davis, J., pp. 162-163; Bernard, 
pp. 250-252; Hall, B., II, 74; Martineau, II, 305. 



EDUCATION AND LITERATURE 223 

Sedgwick's novels received commendation for their ''moral 
beauty/' English travellers, with one or two exceptions, 
seem to have been entirely oblivious of the work of Charles 
Brockden Brown, and to have read very little of Cooper.^^ 
In the most lengthy and most significant criticism of this 
latter novelist, he is accused of not being true to life, and 
of drawing poor female characters. Perhaps Mrs. Trollope 
had Cooper in mind w^hen she said of American fiction- 
writers: ''Even in treating their great national subject of 
romance, the Indians, they are seldom either powerful or 
original." Bristed remarked that there was not much 
scope for fiction in America, as the country was quite new, 
and all that had happened in it from the first settlement 
was known to everyone. "There is, to be sure, some tradi- 
tionary romance about the Indians; but a novel describing 
these miserable barbarians, their squaws and their papooses, 
would not be interesting to the present race of American 
readers. " ^^ 

Very little American poetry could be regarded as above 
mediocrity." A few travellers mention Bryant as a prom- 
ising figure, but most of the native talent in this form of 
literature was scattered among the members of a small 
group that is now almost forgotten by the average reader. 
Some of the native effusions that are mentioned are Bar- 
low's "Columbiad," "which is left even at home to gather 
dust"; Pierrepont's "Airs of Palestine," characterized as 
"palpably an imitation of Campbell"; the poems of Per- 

55 On Cooper, see Finch, p. 29; Martineau, II, 306-309; Mrs. 
Trollope, II, 155-158. 

56 Bristed, pp. 355-356. 

57 For comments on American poetry, see Martineau, II, 307 ; 
Finch, p. 29; Mrs. Trollope, II, 156-157; Rich, p. 130; Kendall, I, 
Chap. XIII; Moore, T., "Epistle to Thos. Hume" (1853 ed.), p. 
318 ff.; Lambert, II, 98; Fearon, p. 390; Candler, p. 370-371; Faux, 
p. 138 (also note). 



224 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

cival, the "Fredoniad" by Dr. Emmons, and Paulding's 
*' Backwoodsman," which was criticised as ''delightfully 
original" but as wanting more polish before it was adapted 
to the drawing room. Woodworth drew from Isaac Holmes 
the praise that his work was ''far beyond mediocrity" and 
that he was among those who would have prospered if he 
had been well-paid for his first production. 

The long lists of works of various types found in travel 
literature, show the trend of American interests at this 
period. Travellers praised the books of William Wirt, 
whose "Life of Patrick Henry" was nevertheless criticised 
as being spoiled by bombastic language.^^ Works of the 
type of Wilson 's ' ' Ornithology ' ' were in great demand, and 
were conceded to be authoritative.^^ The general historical 
books, for many reasons, did not meet with approval. Mar- 
shall's "Life of Washington" was "too cumbersome,"*^ 
Ramsay's "History of the United States" was "incom- 
plete." Books of travel, even those describing America, 
were generally disappointing, as in the case of Long's "Ex- 
pedition to the Rocky Mountains," and Hunter's "Cap- 
tivity among the Indians." Griscom's "Year in Europe," 
Silliman's "Tour in England," and Somerville's "Letters 
from Paris" were discussed critically.^^ One field of writ- 
ing in which the Americans could well take pride was that 
of the state and local histories, of which there were many 
promising specimens. These included, according to Bristed, 
"those of New York and New Jersey by Smith, Trumbull's 
History of Connecticut, Ramsay's History of South Caro- 
lina, . . . Holmes' Annals, McCall's Georgia, Darby's 
Louisiana, and Stoddart's Account of that State, Jeffer- 
son's Notes on Virginia, Borman's Maryland, Prud's 
[Proud 's] Pennsylvania, William's Vermont, Belknap's 

ssFearon, p. 387; Candler, p. 367. 60 Candler, p. 358. 

59 See Hall, F., p. 14. ei ibid., pp. 361-366. 



EDUCATION AND LITERATURE 225 

New Hampshire, Hutchinson's Massachusetts, Sullivan's 
Maine, Minot's History of Shay's Rebellion and Drake's 
History of Cincinnati, together with divers accounts of the 
late war, mostly written in that crusading style which 
revolutionary France has rendered current throughout the 
world. "«2 

Very few English writers could conscientiously say that 
the United States had as yet produced any work of great 
value, especially before the time of Cooper and Irving. 
' ' Liberty and competition, ' ' said The Edinburgh Review in 
1810, "have as yet done nothing to stimulate literary genius 
in those republican states. Noah Webster, we are afraid, 
still occupies the first place in criticism, Timothy Dwight 
and Joel Barlow in poetry, and Mr. Justice Marshall in 
history; and as to the physical sciences, we shall merely 
observe, that a little elementary treatise of botany ap- 
peared in 1803 ; and that this paltry contribution to natural 
history is chronicled by the latest American historian 
among the 'remarkable occurrences since the Revolution.' 
In short, federal America has done nothing, either to ex- 
tend, diversify, or embellish the sphere of human knowl- 
edge. Though all she has written were obliterated from 
the records of learning, there wouid, (if we except the 
works of Franklin) be no positive diminution either of the 
useful or the agreeable. ' ' ®^ 

The Americans, it was complained, wasted what literary 
talent they had on political pamphlets and newspaper arti- 
cles, two forms of literature developed by the peculiar cir- 
cumstances of American life. *' Their party pamphlets," 
it was admitted, "though disgraced with much intemper- 
ance and scurrility, are written with a keenness and spirit 

62 Bristed, p. 355. 

6s Edinburgh Review, XV, 445 (January, 1810). 



226 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

that is not often to be found in the old world. ' ' ^* For- 
eigners believed that the United States had no consistent 
policy in its intellectual habits. To this fact were attributed 
the rise and early decline of the numerous reviews and 
periodicals, few of which continued very long.^^ The gen- 
eral tone of this kind of literature was considered low; 
it was prejudiced and partial in criticism, and too often 
took on a political cast. Lack of originality was another 
charge, in that they copied long extracts from English re- 
views; on the other hand, the native effusions which they 
sometimes included were mediocre and discreditable. The 
Portfolio, founded by Joseph Dennie, was one of the 
few long-lived periodicals in the United States at this 
period. Travellers make little more than casual mention 
of The Analectic Magazine, The American Review, The Bos- 
ton Anthology, Knickerbocker Magazine, The Portico, The 
American Magazine and Review, and The Southern Re- 
view. In 1810, Obadiah Rich says, there were twenty-four 
periodicals in the United States, of which The Portfolio and 
The Anthology, he says with truth, were the most important. 
In 1830, there were about one hundred. In 1832, The 
American Monthly Revieiv was founded, especially for the 
criticism of American literature. The North American Re- 
view, begun in 1815, was obviously considered the best of 
this type of literature in the country. It was ranked with 
The Edin'burgh and The Quarterly, both of which were re- 
printed in America. In 1820, the reviewer of the ''Sketch 
Book" for The Edin'burgh says : ' ' We have received a copy of 
the 'North American Review or the Miscellaneous Journal.' 

64 Ibid., II, 448 (July, 1803) ; Bristed, pp. 316 flF. 

65 On periodicals and reviews, see Holmes, p. 381; Bristed, pp. 
317-318, 358; Martineau, II, 308; Kendall, II, 307; Davis, J., p. 
223 flf.; Rich, p. 105; Hodgson, II, 241, note; Edinburgh Review, 
XXXIV, 161 (1820) ; Candler, pp. 354-356; Duncan, I, 83; II, 302. 



EDUCATION AND LITERATURE 227 

It appears to us to be by far the best and most promising 
production of the press of that country that has ever come 
into our hands. It is written with great spirit, learning 
and ability, on a great variety of subjects; and abounds 
with profound and original discussions on the most inter- 
esting topics." Its chief defect was said to be that it was 
prejudiced in favor of American institutions. Its attempts 
at wit, too, were not appreciated, though it was admitted 
that it had not "fallen into the flippant petulance so ob- 
servable in the early numbers of the Edinburgh Keview, 
nor into the arrogant acerbity so often conspicuous in the 
Quarterly." One traveller compliments its editor on his 
good sense in translating quotations from foreign authors, 
instead of taking for granted that the knowledge of those 
languages was too widespread to require their translation. 
A great source of anxiety to the pious Duncan was the fact 
that it issued from the Harvard press. ''Would that its 
theological opinions were from a purer source," he says, 
''happily they are but seldom obtruded." 

Literary interest, for the average American, was cen- 
tered in the newspapers. According to one report, there 
were, in 1801, 203 of these in the United States; in 1810, 
there were 358 ; and about 1830, the number had increased 
to 1,200. •'^ Several travellers make the statement that 
there were, all through this period, more newspapers pub- 
lished in the United States than in any other country in the 
world. Melish (1810) gives a table showing the annual 
publication of about 22,500,000 copies.^'" One saw news- 
papers everywhere in America. There seemed to be no 
family too poor to have one ; travellers commented on see- 
ing carters and draymen reading them while waiting for 

66 Rich, pp. 104-105. 

67 See Melish, II, 457-458; Tudor, I, 23; Lambert, II, 78; Ouseley, 
p. 207; Davis, S., p. 75. 



228 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

work, or while driving along in their wagons.^® Many for- 
eign language papers existed before the end of this period.^^ 
Besides, it was the duty, rather than the amusement, of 
every man to see just what his government was doing, 
therefore each took the paper that suited his particular kind 
of politics. His busy life forbade the spending of much 
time in reading; with a newspaper he could ''pick up criti- 
cal dictums or read snatches of English poetry in the inter- 
vals of work. ' ' ^^ Knowledge acquired in this way might 
be superficial, but to its general diffusion was attributed 
that knowledge of the world, that lack of rusticity, peculiar 
to the laboring classes of America.'^^ It was a cheap form 
of education too; in 1823, papers were only l%d. each; 
Lambert says they never cost more than 2i/2 or 3d. ster- 
ling; to send them to the subscribers cost one cent within 
the state and a cent and a half outside the state.'^^ 

The newspaper of those days was quite different from 
the one with which we are familiar today.'^ There was no 
reporting of events, except the proceedings of Congress. 
Nor was this regarded as a fault in some cases. Boardman 
quotes an example of national egotism that he found in a 
native paper. ''We thank Heaven that our papers are 
barren of interest to the recorders of midnight assassina- 
tions, of accidents by flood and field, of the tale of strife 
and blood, and of titled profligacy. We reprint ; they (the 
English) originate." Though Boardman says that this 
was not strictly true, he adds, "no namby-pamby trash of 

68 Mrs. Trollope, I, 129; Boardman, p. 76; Lambert, II, 498. 

69 D'Arusmont, p. 303. 

70 D'Arusmont, p. 303; Mrs. Trollope, I, 128-129. 

71 Lambert, II, 499. 

72 Lambert, II, 498; Rich, pp. 104-105; Ouseley, p. 205; Hamilton, 
II, p. 387. 

73 For contents of American newspapers, see Boardman, p. 78; 
Fearon, p. 384; Lambert, II, 499. 



EDUCATION AND LITERATURE 229 

fashionable movements, routes, and dinners find their way 
into its columns." Important speeches in the legislature 
or in Congress were given in full, though they often took 
up the greater part of the space in the paper. Political 
dispute always made up a portion, as did the latest news 
from England; in the coast states, an important addition 
was the shipping news. 

The unrestrained liberty of the press and the amount of 
personal abuse which the papers consequently exhibited, 
were a source of astonishment to the foreigner.'^* *'The 
Americans are a calm, rational, civil, and well-behaved peo- 
ple," said one traveller, ''not given to quarrel or to call 
each other names ; and yet if you were to look at their news- 
papers, you would think them a parcel of Hessian sol- 
diers. . . . Were a foreigner immediately after landing, 
to take up a newspaper, he might suppose that the whole 
political machine was about to fall to pieces, and that he 
had just come in time to be crushed in its ruins." No 
public official, no matter how high his office, was safe from 
attack; no epithets were too virulent to use. Englishmen 
complained that even personal honor was not immune; 
enemies, political and otherwise, used the newspaper for 
the exposure of private matters, the public mention of 
which often disgusted the foreigner; innocence of the 
charge was no protection from this mud-slinging. It was 
regretted that the dependence of newspapers on the masses 
of people for support, forced them to cater to the taste of 
their patrons. 

The Englishman with a sense of humor often found the 
advertisements the most amusing part of the paper.'^^ For 

74rearon, p. 384; Holmes, p. 382; Duhring, pp. 134-135; D'Arus- 
mont, p. 298; Hamilton, II, 384-387. 

75 See Coke, I, 36 ; Boardman, p. 76 ; Neilson, p. 77 ; Mrs. Trollope, 
II, 152; Lambert, II, 204; Bernard, pp. 194-195. 



230 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

the publisher, advertisement was cheap, as there was "no 
duty on materials, publication or contents," but the adver- 
tiser paid a high rate. Neilson says that in 1823 the usual 
price was sixty-two and a half cents for the first insertion 
and twenty-five cents for subsequent ones. Runaway slaves 
and apprentices were described, often in circumlocutory 
style. Warnings were sent out against swindlers. New 
publications were advertised in gushing language. Mrs. 
Trollope copied from a New York paper an advertisement 
of a partnership volume of poems of a Mr. and Mrs. Brooks. 
''The lovers of impassioned and classical numbers may 
promise themselves much gratification from the muse of 
Brooks, while the many-stringed harp of this lady, the 
Noma of the Courier Harp, which none but she can touch, 
has a chord for every heart. ' ' Lambert says that the news- 
papers published in Charleston (about 1808) were so full 
of advertisements that they left little space for the news of 
the day. He goes on to say, ''Advertisements are often 
drawn up in ludicrous style; and rewards offered for lost 
or stolen property, that are not likely to facilitate their 
recovery. One cent reward is sometimes offered to those 
who will apprehend a negro fellow or wench that has ab- 
sconded from a plantation, and I once saw a reward of 
thirty-nine lashes offered for the recovery of a pair of 
saddle-bags that had been stolen off a horse." 

The interest in the drama and the theatre increased 
steadily throughout this period. The hostile attitude which 
the colonists had held toward this form of entertainment 
changed first to acquiescence, then to interest, in the years 
after the Revolution.'^^ An English traveller in 1797 com- 
mented on the changed point of view in Boston, where 
dramatic pieces had been introduced a few years before 

76 Weld, I, 23; Kendall, I, 164-168; Wansey, p. 114; Boardman, 
p. 280; Rich, p. 123. 



EDUCATION AND LITERATURE 231 

Tinder the name of ''moral lectures." Now that theatres 
were licensed, Americans had run to extremes and had two 
theatres in Boston, involving an enormous expense which 
was bound to bring the venture to bankruptcy/^ Some of 
the performers in these Boston theatres received as much as 
twenty pounds a week; Mrs. Whitlocke (Mrs. Siddons' sis- 
ter) even commanded the enormous salary of 180 pounds 
sterling for six nights. Wansey had seen this same actress 
in 1794 in Philadelphia when she played in Mrs. Inch- 
bald's ''Every One Has His Faults"; so "elegant and 
convenient" was the theatre and so well-behaved was the 
audience that the Englishman could almost believe he was 
in his native country.'^^ Weld comments on this same Phila- 
delphia theatre in 1795, and says that, though it was neatly 
fitted up, it was hardly large enough for the town.'^ 

After 1800 we have a constant repetition in travel liter- 
ature of brief mention of theatres visited by observers,®*^ 
Some of these accounts are favorable to actors and audi- 
ence, some quite otherwise. Certain facts stand out, how- 
ever, in regard to the American theatres at that time. One 
of these is the scarcity of women in the audience, which 
was commented on frequently, and at widely separated 
dates.^^ When Tyrone Power played in 1833 in New York 
to a crowded house, there were, he says, not more than 
twenty women present. He noticed the same thing in Bos- 
ton. Other travellers remarked, too, that women never, 
under any circumstances, sat in the pit of the theatre ; also 

77 Priest, pp. 157-158. 

78 Wansey, p. 113. 

79 Weld, I, 23-24. 

80 See, for instance, Murray, II, 130; Fearon, p. 209; Baardman, 
p. 79; Hall, F., p. 12. 

81 For presence of women in American theatres, see Power, I, 
62, 123; II, 172; Hall, F., p. 12; Fearon, p. 87; Boardman, p. 80; 
Howison, p. 335. 



232 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

that they did not take the performance seriously enough 
to put on their best clothes for it. Another curious trait 
of behavior was noticed among the male part of the audi- 
ence, many of whom kept on their hats during the perform- 
ance. When Lieutenant Coke saw Forrest in ''The Gladi- 
ator" in Philadelphia (1832), the house was so crowded, 
and so many of the men in the dress circle wore their hats, 
that the poor stranger caught only an occasional glimpse 
of the star performer during the evening.^^ -^j.^ Trol- 
lope's denunciation of American manners at the theatre is 
classic. At Cincinnati, she saw men sitting during the per- 
formance without their coats, and with their shirt sleeves 
tucked up, and their heels higher than their heads. The 
spitting and the noises were perpetual. One could attribute 
this very conveniently to the unsettled state of the Middle 
"West, if the same charge were not made against audiences 
in Philadelphia and New York. Shirreff says that he saw, 
in New York, an example of Mrs. TroUope's influence. 
Some men in the boxes assumed a lounging attitude, and 
immediately the audience called out "A Trollope, a Trol- 
lope!" until the offenders withdrew. Coke says that he 
saw the same thing happen at the American debut of Fanny 
Kemble in New York.^^ 

The Americans were accused generally of indifference to 
the claims of the drama, though the performances were 
usually well-attended. ' ' Though the play was pathetic and 
affecting," said Howison, after a visit to a New York 
theatre, ' ' I could not discover the least sjonptom of feeling 
in any of the faces around me; and this observation har- 
monized with the idea I had previously formed, of the total 

82 Coke, I, 37; Fearon, p. 86; Power, I, 62; Howison, p. 335; 
Welby, p. 320. 

83 Mrs. Trollope, I, 186, II, 88, 194; Janson, p. 225; Neilson, p. 
19; Shirreff, p. 9; Coke, I, 154. 



EDUCATION AND LITERATURE 233 

insensibility of the American people to all the finer sources 
of emotion. ' ' ^* Fearon tells of a very funny burlesque of 
"Hamlet" that he saw in Pittsburg; the audience, he says, 
''did not move a muscle of their intelligent faces." ®^ 
English actors confessed that they missed the constant 
laughter and applause with which they were greeted at 
home, but that the audience was usually attentive and in- 
telligent.®^ 

Most of the plays seen in American theatres were of 
English authorship and acted by English players.®^ Travel- 
lers went in the larger cities to see Hodgkinson, or Miss 
Fontenelle, or some other actor whom they had admired at 
home. A great deal of Shakespeare seems to have been 
given, judging from the parts played by such persons as 
John Bernard and Tyrone Power. Bernard gives us the 
best English account of the stage from 1797 to 1811. He 
came to America at the earlier date, under the manage- 
ment of Wignell of Philadelphia, who paid him a salary of 
a thousand pounds a year. For fourteen years, he was an 
important figure on the American stage, playing comedy 
parts chiefly, but also acting as manager, going about to all 
the large cities, and not only enjoying life to the full but 
collecting information on every phase of American life. 
He tells us so much about the theatre that it is difficult to 
determine just which of his remarks are most valuable. In 
speaking of the great profit which often accrued to the 
managers in the early days of this period, he says: "But 
however advantageous to the manager's pockets, this was 
also a period that respected his pleasures. It gave him lit- 

84 Howison, p. 335. 

85 Fearon, p. 210; also Hall, F., p. 12. 

86 Bernard, p. 50; Power, I, 63, 88, 123 ff., 210. 

87 Fearon, p. 365; Mrs. Trollope, I, 182-183, II, 87; Boardraan^ 
p. 204; Shirreff, p. 10; Fearon, pp. 209-210. 



234 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA. 

tie Other trouble than to attend to his treasury. Both his 
system and actors were imported from England, and the 
one, for some years, worked as well as the other. The 
modern rage for novelties had not yet set in. The drama 
itself was a novelty which proved quite sufficient. Thus a 
manager, in those days, was not perplexed for new pieces, 
or obliged to risk a fortune on those abysses of capital — 
modern ballet and spectacle. As yet, even the melodrama 
was unknown to the stage ; the nearest approach to it being 
serious pantomimes, such as *La Perouse' and 'Don Juan,' 
. . . Shakespeare and 'Keef e were the staple attractions, 
varied with Farquhar and Cumberland, Goldsmith and 
Sheridan, and the performances also were only three nights 
a week, and yet probably averaged as much as our six. 
Thus he had nothing to do at the opening of the season but 
to put up a cast of the common stock plays — ' Hamlet, ' 
'Othello,' the 'West Indian,' and the 'Rivals'; with the 
'Padlock,' the 'Poor Soldier' and the 'Agreeable Surprise.' 
The actors were all studied, hardly a rehearsal was needed, 
and if the fever kept off, the house filled and closed without 
one jar to his nerves. . . . 

"The actor's position was quite as good as the manager's. 
As yet, the supply of talent was not beyond the demand, 
and consequently incomes maintained a fair level. There 
was no salary at this time under four pounds a week, 
while many reached as high as twelve and fifteen, and as 
benefits occurred at least twice a year, these ordinarily 
added one-third to the amount. If an actor were unem- 
ployed, want and shame were not before him: he had 
merely to visit some town in the interior where no theatre 
existed, but 'readings' were permitted; and giving a few 
recitations from Shakespeare and Sterne, his pockets in a 
night or two were amply replenished. ' ' ^^ 
88 Bernard, pp. 262-263. 



EDUCATION AND LITERATURE 235 

Boardman says that many of the English plays were 
altered ''to suit the political atmosphere of America."®^ 
It was complained, too, that many of the more vulgar jokes 
of Great Britain were transported to America and appeared 
on the native boards.«« The stage Yankee had by 1830 be- 
come a part of the American tradition, and the inability to 
outwit him became one of the favorite themes of the native 
play.^^ Englishmen seem not to have visited many plays 
written by Americans. Coke saw Mr. Hackett in a very 
interesting one in Philadelphia, called ''The Raw Ken- 
tuckian, or The Lion of the West." The scene was laid in 
the more uncivilized "Western region, and the play de- 
lighted the audience exceedingly, though to the visitor 
many of the expressions used were unintelligible.^^ This 
same traveller saw Forrest, the "Roscius of America," in 
Dr. Bird's "The Gladiator." The most famous American 
actor all through this period was Thomas Cooper, the first 
great tragedian.^^ John Bernard tells us a great deal 
about him, of his charm as an actor and as a man. Vigne 
saw him in Philadelphia in 1831, and admired his voice 
particularly. "I remember that I thought him dignified 
but rather stiff, without however being the least awkward 
in his acting." The scarcity of American actresses was 
commented on; Tyrone Power, particularly, believed that 
there was a great deal of latent dramatic talent in America, 
and expressed his wonder that American women did not 
turn their good looks, easy carriage, and imitative ability 
to that account.^* 

89 Boardman, p. 80. 

90 Fearon, p. 365. 

91 Boardman, p. 81. 

92 Coke, I, 35-37; Mrs. Trollope, II, 194-195. 

93 For Cooper, the tragedian, see Bernard, p. 164; Vigne, I, 45; 
Janson, p. 254. 

94 Power, I, 211. 



236 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

Many museums and libraries were visited by the stranger, 
especially in the larger cities.^^ One traveller accounts for 
the diffusion of science through the country by the found- 
ing of museums in every town of over 10,000 inhabitants. 
The institution most frequently visited was Peale 's Museum 
at Philadelphia. It was noted for its collection of minerals 
and fossil remains, among which the traveller never failed 
to observe the bones of the mammoth found in New York 
State in 1801.^^ This same city had in 1824, it was said, 
sixteen public libraries, containing a total of over 65,000 
volumes; of these institutions the Franklin Library was 
the oldest and most progressive.^^ Melish, in 1810, quotes 
the history of it from the ''Continuation of the Life of 
Franklin." At the time when the English merchant 
visited it, the library owned 14,000 books. It was run by 
a stock company of 500 subscribers, each of whom paid 
$40 entry fee and $2 annual dues. The former, Melish 
thought, was too high for the mass of people, while the 
annual tax might be easily increased without laying too 
heavy a burden upon the people. In Baltimore, where the 
library was considered very excellent, and where the same 
subscription system was in use, the dues were $4. Strangers 
commented on the fact that in any American library, 
strangers could use books freely and could take them out 
overnight by paying a small fee. 

New York had, of course, many libraries with facilities 

95 For some museums visited, see Howison, pp. 335-336 ; Board- 
man, p. 192, 195-196; Lambert, II, 80; Kendall, III, 24-25; Candler, 
p. 447; Finch, p. 26. 

96 For Peale's Museum and the mammoth, see Fearon, pp. 153-6 ; 
Janson, p. 193; Neilson, pp. 146-150; Finch, pp. 86-87; Duncan, I, 
195; Faux, p. 67; Flint, p. 55 (note 21). 

97 For the Franklin Library, see Finch, p. 86; Hall, B., II, 366; 
Duncan, I, 200; Davis, J., p. 42; Boardman, p. 176; Janson, pp. 
187-191; Melish, I, 162-164, 184. 



EDUCATION AND LITERATURE 237 

for circulating books. The New York Library had been 
founded before the Revolution; in 1806, it contained 
10,000 volumes; in 1832, it had doubled that number.^^ 
Howison complains of the custom here of making everyone 
who took out books pay for a week's loan, no matter how 
rapidly he read the book. The Englishman carefully ex- 
plains that the reason for this is the great slowness with 
which Americans read, and which would make it extremely 
expensive for them to borrow books by the night. Fowler 
mentions another important library in New York — the So- 
ciety Library. This, he says, had been established in 1740 ; 
during the Revolution, its 3000 volumes were destroyed or 
carried away by British troops. It was re-established in 
1789, and by 1830 had 20,000 volumes.^^ The contents of 
the Library of Congress in Washington were also, it was 
said, destroyed by the British, in the War of 1812, but in 
1832, this flourishing institution had 20,000 books.^''^ 
Melish mentions an interesting one which he visited in 
Lexington, Kentucky. It had in connection with it a 
youth's library, which seems to have been an innovation, 
a prototype of our '' Children's Room" of today.^*'^ 

Probably the finest library throughout this period was 
the Athenaeum at Boston. Early in the century, it con- 
tained 18,000 books; about 1830, this number was said to 
have increased to 30,000. It was noted especially for its 
fine collections of casts, coins, and medals.^^^ 

It has already been said that the frequent mention of 

98 For the New York Library, see Howison, p. 344 ; Boardman, 
p. 72; Lambert, II, 79-80. 

99 Fowler, pp. 225-226. 

100 Mackenzie, p. 39. 

101 Melish, II, 187. 

102 For the Athaeneum in Boston, see Duncan, I, 84; Alexander, 
II, 314; Fearon, p. 105; Boardman, p. 277; Power, I, 121; Hamil- 
ton, I, 241; Kendall, II, 254. 



238 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

lectures indicated their popularity with Americans. *'It 
has become the fashion in New York," an observer tells 
us, 'Ho attend lectures on moral philosophy, chemistry, 
mineralogy, botany, mechanics, etc., and the ladies in par- 
ticular have made considerable progress in those studies. 
. The desire for instruction and information indeed is 
not confined to the youthful part of the community ; many 
married ladies and their families may be seen at the philoso- 
phical and chemical lectures, and the spirit of inquiry is 
becoming more general among the gentlemen. ' ' ^^^ The 
investigations of the American Philosophical Society were 
known all over the world, we are told, and its library in 
Philadelphia was supposed to be a particularly fine one. 
In New York was another organization of the same type, 
known as the Lyceum of Natural History.^^* 

No discussion of means for promoting culture in this 
period would be complete without some mention of ' ' Wistar 
parties." ^^^ These were the meetings of an organization 
in Philadelphia w^hich was founded by an eminent physi- 
cian for w^hom the club was named. It met weekly, for the 
encouragement of science and literature, and had a great 
influence on the thought of the country. To it came noted 
men from foreign countries, and several English travellers 
tell of the profitable evening spent at one of these meet- 
ings, which brought together men of different interests, and 
promoted free interchange of opinion. 

The results of America's progress in the fine arts met 
with small consideration from the stranger. The collec- 
tions were very indifferent, and the quality of American 

103 Lambert, II, 95-96; Boardman, p. 279; Hamilton, I, 241. 

104 See Hall, B., II, 328, 366. 

105 For "Wistar parties," see Alexander, II, 271; Finch, p. 88; 
Harris, W. T., p. 76; Boardman, p. 212; Hall, B., II, 339; Hamil- 
ton, I, 334-335. 



EDUCATION AND LITERATURE 239 

work poor.^0^ The best known names in the arts were 
evidently those of Trumbull and Washington Allston.^'^^ 
Trumbull was commissioned to paint a series of national 
pictures for the Hall of Congress, for each of which he 
was to receive $4000. Howison saw his ''Surrender of 
Cornwallis" and found it very inferior and ''unfortunate 
in choice of subject." "Col. Trumbull is the most lady- 
like painter in the world ; his colors appear to be laid on 
with the utmost timidity; he shows as much aversion to 
strong shadows as the Chinese do, and his faces have an 
expression of red-cheeked stupidity about them which de- 
notes a corresponding want of soul in the artist." 

There was some attempt at ornamental architecture in 
the cities, in .the churches, and other public buildings. The 
Capitol at Washington sometimes received praise.^^^ Bris- 
ted remarked that "the city hall of New York, a marble 
edifice, probably surpasses in magnificence and beauty every 
European building out of Italy." ^^9 g^^ ^^ ^^le whole, 
the opinion of American art was a mean one, as English- 
men did not hesitate to affirm. Some of the critics tried 
to indicate the reasons for this, and to hold out promise 
for the future. "With regard to the fine arts/' said 
Bristed, "our sculpture extends but little beyond chissel- 
ing grave-stones for a church yard, and our painting, for 
want of individual wealth, is chiefly confined to minia- 
tures, portraits, and landscapes. ... But American genius 
IS equal to that of Europe for the fine arts, as it is evi- 
dent from the United States having produced West, Trum- 

106 Mrs. Trollope, II, 84; Bristed, p. 364; Howison, p. 337; Coke 
I, 133; Hall, F., p. 171; Candler, p. 446; Fearon, p 85 

107 Mrs. Trollope, II, 84; Boardman, p. 277; Howison, p. 337- 
Bristed, pp. 363-364; Vigne, II, 234-235. 

108 See, for instance, Candler, pp. 448-450. 

109 Bristed, p. 364. 



240 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

bull, Stuart, Copeley, Allston and Leslie. The Academies 
of the fine arts at New York and Philadelphia contain 
some fine paintings, and a few good pieces of sculpture, 
imported from Europe. ' ' ^^° One branch of the arts in 
which the Americans were conceded to excel was engrav- 
ing, especially of the practical sort. The bank notes, for 
instance, turned out by American engravers were the 
finest of their kind.^^^ The quality of American art was 
indeed, some travellers said, as good as one could expect, 
considering the small amount of patronage artists received, 
and the peculiar circumstances of American life, which 
put small value on aesthetic pleasures. ''The trade of a 
carpenter," said one indignant observer, ''opens up an 
infinitely better prospect [than painting], and this is so 
well-known that nothing but a genuine passion for the 
art could beguile anyone to pursue it."^^^ 

It seems to have been the common belief among travel- 
lers that the Americans prided themselves on speaking the 
English language more correctly than did the English 
themselves.^^^ Nothing was more galling to the latter than 
to be complimented on the purity of their language, by 
people of the United States. Coke says that he was fre- 
quently told by casual acquaintances in the States, "Well, 
I should have imagined you to be an American, you have 
not got the English brogue, and aspirate the letter h when 
speaking." ^^* In spite of the fact that there was no stand- 
ard pronunciation of the English language in America, 

iioBristed, pp. 363-364. 

111 See Holmes, p. 379; Duncan, I, 203. 

112 See Mrs. Trollope, II, 174; Hall, F., pp. 175476; Holmes, 
p. 378. 

113 On this belief, see Blane, pp. 504-505 ; Duncan, II, 304 ; Coke, 
I, 154-155; Abdy, I, 186; Kendall, II, 172; Chap. XLIX. 

11* On uniformity of language, see Bristed, p. 335; Candler, p. 
327; Vigne, II, 70; Stuart, I, 326. 



EDUCATION AND LITERATURE 241 

it was noticed that there was more general uniformity 
throughout the land, than in most European countries. In 
no place, except perhaps among the Pennsylvania Dutch, 
was an unintelligible jargon spoken. The constant move- 
ment of the population, too, helped to unify vocabulary 
and pronunciation. ''To travel by the mail for two or 
three hundred miles," says Vigne, ''and to sit beside a 
coachman who spoke as good English as the one with whom 
I first started, had, certainly, at least, I thought so, the 
effect of shortening the distance." 

Americans were said to be more careless in regard to 
grammar and syntax than were Englishmen. This was 
especially true of the educated classes ; the lower types of 
people spoke more correctly than did the same class of 
people in England. The deficiency in grammar arose per- 
haps, as one traveller suggested, from the lack of neces- 
sity for endeavor to free one's self from provincialisms, 
and from the fact that attention was seldom called to the 
niceties of language. The use of careless phrases, or slang, 
was much deplored; Candler thus expresses himself: 
' ' Some amongst them seem too fond of adopting those cant 
expressions, which from time to time, become current with 
persons who affect the airs and behavior of coachmen, 
stable-boys and the like; which expressions were con- 
demned by Swift, as the most ruinous of all corruptions 
in language." ^^^ 

The greatest curiosities to the foreigner were the changes 
in the pronunciation and in the use of words. Captain 
Basil HaU records an amusing altercation with a New 
York school mistress. During a visit to the school, he 
criticised her pronunciation of certain words. "I could 
not resist saying," he remarks, "that in England, the word 

115 For carelessness in language, see Hamilton, I, 227 ; Abdy, I, 
186; Duncan, II, 306 j Candler, p. 331; Vigne, II, 75. 



242 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

combat was pronounced as if the o in the first syllable 
were written u, cumbat; and that instead of saying 
s/iivalry, the ch with us was sounded hard as in the word, 
chin; and that I believed the dictionary alluded to 
[Walker's] would bear me out in this." When the teacher 
protested, he carried on the argument until she took refuge 
in ''You in Scotland may do as you like, but we Amer- 
icans have a perfect right to pronounce our words as we 
please." ^^^ Four or five years later, Boardman, on a 
visit to Boston, heard a young Harvard orator pronounce 
"chivalry" and "chicanery" in the manner approved by 
Captain Hall. "He pronounced them both in a style that 
would have fully satisfied the gallant officer, and made 
ample amends for the pertinacity of the New York 'school 
madam' who did not conceive that 'they who go down 
to the sea in ships' are the best models in scholastic 
matters." ^^^ 

Candler says he recalls only two or three instances of 
difference from English pronunciation. "The second 
syllable of engine is pronounced long, . . . the word 
learned, which, when used adjectively, we pronounce in 
two syllables, they pronounce in one. We make clerk 
rhyme to hark, while they make it rhjTne to jerk. There 
are most likely some others which either escaped my no- 
tice or have slipped from my memory. ' ' ^^^ Other travel- 
lers were not willing to dismiss the subject so lightly. 
"The American error," says Vigne, "is detected in the 
formal and decided accentuation of particular syllables in 
several common words, and in the laughable misuse of 
many others; and not in any mispronunciation of the lan- 
guage generally. The word engine, for instance, is pro- 
ne See Hall, B., I, 28-29. 

117 Boardman, pp. 293-294. 

118 Candler, pp. 328-329. 



EDUCATION AND LITERATURE 243 

nounced engine; favorite, favorite; European, European, 
et-e. ' ' "^ The word does was remarked to be split into two 
syllables and pronounced do-es, where became converted to 
whare, and there to thare. Words like oratory and dilatory 
were pronounced with the penult syllable long and accented, 
missionary became missionmry, angel, angel, and danger, 
ddnger}^^ 

It was the wrong use of words, generally, that amused 
or provoked the stranger, according to his disposition. ^^^ 
This failing called forth many comments, and not a few 
imaginary dialogues. Duncan analyzed the peculiarity as 
consisting ''partly in an uncanonical use of good English 
words, partly in illipses to which we are not accustomed, 
partly in an occasional word surviving from the language 
of the first settlers, and in a few that appear to be of 
republican coinage." Vigne tells us what some of these 
are : ' ' There are about half a dozen words in constant use, 
to which the English ear is unaccustomed in the sense they 
are meant to convey; such as to fix, to locate, to guess, to 
expect, to calkilate, etc. The verb 'to fix' has perhaps as 
many significations as any word in the Chinese language. 
If anything is to be done, made, mixed, mended, bespoken, 
fiired, ordered, arranged, procured, finished, lent, or given, 
it would very probably be designated by the verb 'to fix.' 
The tailor or boot-maker who is receiving your instructions, 
the bar-keeper who is concocting for you a glass of mint 
julep, promise alike to fix you, that is, to hit your taste 
exactly. A lady's hair is sometimes said to be fixed, in- 
stead of dressed; and were I to give my coat or my boots 

119 Vigne, II, 70. 

120 Hamilton, I, 227-228; Abdy, II, 315-316. 

121 For wrong use of words, see Davis, J., p. 221; Melish, I, 128; 
Vigne, II, 73-74; Duncan, II, 305; Lambert, II, 505-507; Woods, J., 
"The English Prairie," pp. 345-346. 



244 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

to a servant to be brushed, and to tell him merely to fix 
them fo:? me, he would perfectly understand what he had 
to do. There is a marked peculiarity in the word — * clever. ' 
In America, a man or woman may be very clever without 
possessing one grain of talent. The epithet is applied al- 
most exclusively to a person of an amiable and obliging 
disposition. . . . According to their meaning, Bonaparte 
was terribly stupid, and Lord North was a very clever 
fellow indeed." Hamilton says that when he had had 
drilled into him this use of ''clever," he fondly believed 
that all trouble with the word was at an end. **It was 
not long, however, before I heard of a gentleman having 
moved into a clever house, of another succeeding to a clever 
sum of money — of a third embarking in a clever ship, and 
making a clever voyage, with a clever cargo, and of the 
sense attached to the word in these various combinations, 
I could gain nothing like satisfactory explanation. ' ' ^^^ 

Another stumbling block was ''fine," which was distorted 
from its usual meaning. To say that a certain lady was a 
"very fine woman" was to compliment her exclusively on 
her intellectual abilities. "Smart" for "clever"; "ele- 
gant" in the sense signifying good quality; "balance" for 
"remainder"; "fall" for "autumn"; "roosters" for 
"cocks"; "lengthy" for "long," are only a few of the per- 
versions most frequently noticed and commented on.^^^ 
What the outcome of these changes would be was dis- 
tressing to think of. ' ' Unless the present progress of taste 
be arrested," we are told, "by an increase of taste and 
judgment in the more educated classes, there can be no 
doubt that, in another century, the dialect of the Amer- 
icans will become utterly unintelligible to an Englishman, 
and that the nation will be cut off from the advantages 

122 Hamilton, I, 228. 

123 Hamilton, I, 229; Palmer, pp. 129-131; Candler, pp. 329-331. 



EDUCATION AND LITERATURE 245 

arising from their participation in British literature. If 
they contemplate such an event with complacency, let them 
go on and prosper; they have only to progress in their 
present course, and their grandchildren bid fair to speak 
a jargon as novel and peculiar as the most patriotic Amer- 
ican linguist can desire. ' ' ^^* 

124 Hamilton, I, 230. 



CHAPTER IX 

RELIGION 

The United States, in refusing to establish an official 
church, followed a policy which set it apart from the other 
nations, and which produced effects that are incalculable 
in their value and extent. The lack of an established 
church might perhaps be supposed to lead to a state of 
irreligion, or at the very least, to a carelessness in regard 
to religious matters, and a reluctance to support enter- 
prises of that nature. There was danger that the spiritual 
things of life would be left more or less to chance, or would 
be made dependent on the popular whims of the day. 
Then too, the policy of allowing everyone to choose his 
own church tended, it was said, to lead to injudicious and 
thoughtless choosing, and to encourage a multitude of 
sects.^ That most of these fears were unfounded was made 
evident by the actual observation of strangers who were 
interested in the working-out of the country's religious 
policy. The Americans were seen to be a race neither of 
atheists nor of fanatics. The churches were filled with 
people voluntarily attending and supporting their chosen 
denomination by contribution; generally a state of har- 
mony prevailed among the congregations. However one 
might doubt the practice of religion in the United States, 
the public profession of it was nowhere else more con- 
spicuous.^ Of course there were many travellers who, 

iHall, B., II, 118-120; Murray, II, 205-206; Mrs. Trollope, I, 
149-150; Hamilton, II, 397-399; Ashe, p. 28. 
2 Boardman, p. 44; D'Arusmont, p. 319; Stuart, I, 332. 

246 



RELIGION 247 

even in the face of these conditions, saw only hypocrisy in 
so much religious activity, and remarked that churches 
were not religion, and that however pleasing it might be 
to see such a promising state of affairs, one would be more 
confident of the sincerity of the Americans if more honesty 
were seen in the every-day dealings between man and man.^ 

Public opinion in the United States was observed to be 
distinctly on the side of the church-goer. This may be 
seen early in the history of the nation in the various acts 
of legislation on this matter in the different states. In 
several parts of the country, limitations were put on the 
citizen who refused to affiliate himself with one of the 
many sects. By 1822, Blane says, all the States had dropped 
their restrictions, but he reckoned without Massachusetts, 
which until 1834 enjoined upon its citizens the necessity of 
contributing to some form of religious organization, though 
the choice was unrestricted.* 

It was not, however, because of legislation on the matter 
that public opinion was so firmly fixed on the side of the 
church. There is no doubt that the Americans as a whole 
seemed to be a distinctly religious people.^ * This might be 
accounted for, as was suggested, by the close connection 
that they made between virtue and the church, and by 
^heir belief that a high standard of morality could not 
exist without that institution. Part of this interest may 
have originated in New England, the inhabitants of which, 
in their emigrations, disseminated a joint interest in 
churches and schools along the ever-receding Western fron- 
tier. At any rate, in spite of the wave of infidelity which \ 

3 Hodgson, II, 211, 213; Welby, p. 307; Fearon, p. 113. 

4 Blane, p. 482; Melish, I, 245-246, 292-293; Fearon, p. 114; 
Tudor, I, 421; Martineau, II, 349; Vigne, II, 231-232. 

5 D'Arusmont, p. 319; Hamilton, II, 395-396; Bristed, p. 414; 
Mrs. Trollope, I, 150. 



248 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

entered America with the interest in French affairs after 
the Revolution, it is evident that the person who went so 
far as openly to avow himself an atheist or a deist was 
exceedingly rare.^ This is testified to by the attitude 
toward the few who thus exposed themselves to public cri- 
ticism. Sutcliffe, the English Quaker, was one of those 
who actually saw a professed atheist. His account of the 
meeting must be given in his own words: **At the last 
mentioned inn [in central New York] I met with what I 
had often heard of, but seldom, if ever, seen, a professed 
atheist, who openly avowed his opinions. To all appear- 
ance he was sober ; yet his arguments were extremely weak ; 
indeed, the poor man seemed to be laboring under great 
mental darkness. Although this was the season of the year 
in which thunder and lightning are not common, yet it 
was very remarkable that during the time the atheist was 
delivering his opinions, the thunder rolled over our heads 
in an awful manner, accompanied with vivid flashes of 
lightning. . . . This, however, he seemed not to regard." 
Tudor met, on his passage to America, two daring atheists 
with whom he foolishly tried to argue. One of them 
avowed himself a worshipper of Neptune, a confession 
which had the result of reducing the Englishman to a 
horrified silence. Frances Wright, in her lectures through 
the country, was regarded by the majority of the popula- 
tion as a disseminator of radical doctrines which were 
wicked but fascinating. Englishmen as well as Americans 
regarded her in this light. Ferrall in 1832 uttered a warn- 
ing against her, and her opinions, quoting The New York 
Enquirer to the effect that her followers were already 
boasting of the results of her lectures. * ' ' Two years ago, ' 
say they, — Hiventy persons could scarcely be found in New 

6 On atheists, see Candler, p. 163; Sutcliffe, pp. 146-147; Tudor, 
I, 4-5. 



RELIGION 249 

York who would openly avow infidelity. Now we have 
twenty thousand.' ^' "^ Bristed maintained that in the 
South and West there existed societies modelled after the 
atheistic organizations of France and Germany. The states 
were therefore in danger of being over-run, in a few years, 
with "unbaptized infidels, the most atrocious and remorse- 
less banditti that infest and desolate human society. ' ' ^ 

The passing of the observance of Sunday was a source 
of anxiety to some English visitors, just as it must have 
been to many Americans. It was in the West and the 
South that this was particularly noticeable. Weld, in 1794, 
comments on the fact that there was little observance of 
Sunday in Virginia, and that the churches were going to 
decay.^ Janson says that the same thing was true of the 
Carolinas, where Sunday was spent in ''riot and drunken- 
ness."^^ In the winter of 1814-15, the legislature of 
Louisiana rejected a bill for the improvement of conditions, 
among them the desecration of the Sabbath; the bill was 
characterized as ' ' persecuting intolerance. ' ' ^^ Sunday ob- 
servance was undoubtedly neglected in the more remote 
sections of the country w^here ministers were scarce, where 
there were few churches, and very little religious activity 
of any kind.^^ In New England, only scattered traces re- 
mained of the severe laws that had distinguished those 
states in the days before the Revolution, but Puritan an- 
cestry was discernible in the manners and in the attitude 
toward religion. Even by 1835 not much time had elapsed 
since the days when a man was forbidden to travel on 

7 Ferrall, pp. 332-333. 

8 Bristed, p. 394; also Martineau, II, 324 ff. 

9 Weld, I, 177. 

10 Janson, p. 103. 

11 Bristed, p. 395; Alexander, II, 17. 

12 Hodgson, II, 222-223; Ferrall, p. 81. 



250 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

Sunday.^^ Many travellers noticed the custom which pre- 
vailed in some of the cities, of throwing chains across the 
streets during the hours of the church service to prevent 
vehicles from passing. In the cities all along the Eastern 
coast, the stranger noticed the attention generally paid to 
the external observance of the Sabbath, though it was re- 
marked that as one passed out of New England the severity 
was less evident/* Most people regarded this attitude 
toward Sabbath-keeping in a favorable light. Miss Mar- 
tineau, however, objected strongly to a custom which must 
necessarily bring religion down to a ceremonial, and ulti- 
mately work evil.^^ 

About 1815 to 1818, there seems to have been a great 
increase in religious activity in the United States. Among 
the various phases of this was the introduction of the 
Sunday School. ^^ It is true that various embryonic gather- 
ings of this type had been held for several years before 
1816. The earliest form originated in Philadelphia in 1791. 
It was called the '* First Day or Sunday School Society" 
formed on non-sectarian principles by several prominent 
citizens, including Bishop White of the Episcopal Church, 
Benjamin Rush, and Mathew Carey. The teachers received 
compensation, the expenses being defrayed by subscription. 
By 1800, more than 2,000 pupils had been admitted. It 
was in 1816 that the present voluntary teaching system was 
inaugurated. Interest in Sunday schools was aroused, and 
the institution became an influence for good throughout the 

isjanson, pp. 101-102; Duncan, I, 117-119; D'Arusmont, p. 319, 
321-322; Kendall, I, Chaps. XXIX, XXX. 

14 Mrs. Trollope, II, 95; Duncan, II, 375; Tudor, II, 408; Hodg- 
son, II, 212; Coke, I, 163. 

15 Martineau, II, 341. 

16 For the American Sunday School, see Stuart, I, 207 ; Cooper, 
p. 221; Bristed, p. 415; Coke, I, 217; Shirreff, p. 309; Duncan, I, 
121, 211, 246; II, 27, 380; Hodgson, II, 212-213. 



RELIGION 251 

land. One traveller remarked about 1818 that it had al- 
ready greatly diminished the ignorance, poverty, and vice 
of the largest cities. Not the least reason for its influence, 
it was said, was the fact that it united secular and re- 
ligious instruction. The principal object of attention seems 
to have been English reading, with the Bible of course as 
a text book. John Duncan, whose primary interest was 
religion, gives us the best descriptions of these schools 
shortly after they were founded. He visited them where- 
ever he had an opportunity, and never failed to comment 
on them. Evidently the instruction was of a very simple 
kind; each student prepared a portion of Scripture of 
whatever length he wished, a lack of uniformity which, to 
the mind of the Englishman, greatly diminished the use- 
fuless of the institution. 

Another influence for good was the American Bible So- 
ciety, which was founded as a national institution in 1816.^^ 
Before that time, there had been many local branches, the 
work of which had been chiefly restricted to the conver- 
sion of the Indians. The national society was said to have 
by 1818 over one hundred and fifty auxiliary branches, 
which an enthusiastic Englishman characterized as ''or- 
ganizations which, perhaps, constitute the most important 
and most comprehensively useful institution that has ever 
blessed the human race, since the day-star of the Beforma- 
tion first dawned upon a benighted world." The greater 
part of the Bibles distributed went to the South and West, 
especially to the Mississippi Valley. Missionaries who 
went out to that region discovered a shocking state of af- 
fairs — a huge tract of land with a scattered population of 
thousands without a minister or a church. The only form 
of religious instruction was brought by the circuit riders, 

17 For the American Bible Society, see Hodgson, II, 212-215^ 
Blane, p. 497; Bristed, p. 416 (quotation); Duncan, II, 378. 



252 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

chiefly Methodists, who appeared at intervals of a month 
or more, and who scattered stray crumbs of religion which 
were consumed long before the time of their next visit. 
To this isolated and often indifferent population, the So- 
ciety sent thousands of copies of the Bible. 

The duties that fell to the average American preacher, 
and the circumstances which attended his ministration, 
were characteristic of the national life. Most visitors to 
his church did not consider his lot a particularly enviable 
one.^® In the first place, he held his charge only with the 
approval of his congregation. When a group of people of 
the same religious belief wished to found a church, they 
got together, raised money for the purpose by subscription, 
and proceeded to '"call" the pastor whom they wished. 
His salary was assured from the rental of the pews, from 
marriage and baptismal fees, and from voluntary contribu- 
tion. If he failed to please his congregation, the pastoral 
relation was severed without much ceremony. Strangers 
saw many defects in this system ; it not only rendered con- 
ditions extremely precarious for the clergyman, but it must 
necessarily affect his moral independence, and the sincerity 
of the doctrines he expounded. 

Another disadvantage was the relatively small income 
that he received.^^ This was particularly true of the 
parishes in the country districts. Ouseley, who made a 
study of the ecclesiastical finances of the United States, 
maintains that the pay of a travelling Methodist minister 
was as low a. $60 a year in money, if he was unmarried; 

18 On this point, see Bristed, p. 408 ; Cobbett, p. 244 ff. ; Alex- 
ander, II, 17; Duhring, p. 44; Murray, II, 206; Martineau, II, 
352-353. 

19 On income of clergy, see Coke, I, 216; Abdy, I, 248-249; Ouse- 
ley, pp. 120, 127, 129; Fidler, p. 30; Vigne, II, 232; Lambert, II, 
269; Martineau, II, 351; Bristed, pp. 413-414; Kendall, I, 222. 



RELIGION 253 

about twice that if he was married. These ministers were 
*' boarded around" of course, by numerous parishioners. 
Lieutenant Coke says in 1832 that the clergyman's salary 
in small towns was generally $1,000 a year; in cities from 
$1500 to $2500. Ouseley quotes these figures also, but says 
the estimate is much too large ; he is inclined to agree rather 
with Fenimore Cooper, who set the average salary, for 
ministers in New York State at least, at less than $400. 
It is true that many of the clergy in the smaller parishes 
were unable to devote their time exclusively to religion, 
but eked out their salary by teaching or by small farming ; 
in that case they became mere preachers rather than pas- 
tors, officiating in the church on Sundays, but attending to 
few of the multifarious duties which usually fall to the 
pastor's lot. Too often the minister's salary was supple- 
mented by ''donations" — gifts which degraded his office 
and which often did not afford practical relief to the situa- 
tion. In the city churches the salaries, it was said, were 
much more respectable, just as they are today. From the 
accounts of observers it would seem that they ranged from 
$1000 to $3000. Lambert tells of an enormous salary paid 
to a Presbyterian minister in Savannah, Georgia : $3000 in 
voluntary contributions, besides $7000 from pew rents. 
He attributes the large sum to the extravagance and en- 
thusiasm in religion that prevailed in America. Miss Mar- 
tineau said that there was in America only one way by 
which a clergyman could become wealthy; that was by 
marriage with a wealthy woman, an occurrence which was 
fairly common. ''Not a few planters in the south began 
life as poor clergymen, and obtained by marriage the means 
of becoming planters. Not a few pastors in the north grow 
more sleek than they ever were saintly, and go through 
two safe and quiet preachments on Sunday as the price 



254 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

of their week-day ease. ' ' ^° Observers noticed that no pro- 
vision was made for the minister's old age; from what 
remained of his salary after supporting and educating his 
usually large family, he w^as supposed to have saved enough 
for this exigency; at any rate, the responsibility was his. 
Another limitation put upon him by lack of finances was 
deficiency in education.^^ In the larger cities, this condi- 
tion was not noticed; most of the clergy in the wealthier 
parishes were men of learning and culture, but in the 
country a great state of theological ignorance often pre- 
vailed among ministers. 

Englishmen believed that to most Americans, especially 
to those in the Northern states, the minister was a man 
set apart.^- He was tacitly expected not to take sides on 
any public question, said the observer, ignorant of the real 
influence which many American clergymen exerted. As 
he was the spiritual guide, he must be irreproachable in 
conduct, ''as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves." 
One traveller quotes a remark of an American: ''You 
know the clergy are looked upon by all grown men as a 
sort of people between men and women." Travellers re- 
marked that the pastor was not on the same worldly footing 
with other men. Never was he seen at the theatre or at the 
dance; to appear at either would have subjected him to 
contempt and professional disgrace. When cards were 
introduced at a party, he was expected to leave the house. 
He was not only debarred from the pleasures of an or- 
dinary citizen, it was said, but from the responsibilities as 
well. He was exempt from military duty, and by the 

20Martineau, II, 351. 

21 Hamilton, II, 397-398; Rich, p. 84; Ashe, p. 66; Fidler, p. 35. 

22 For position of the clergy in American life, see Fearon, p. 47; 
Neilson, pp. 229-230; Martineau, II, 342, 353-363; Ouseley, pp. 
124-125; Fidler, pp. 24-25. 



BELIGION 255 

constitution of several states, he could hold no civil or 
military office. 

In spite of these drawbacks, the influence of the clergy 
was conceded to be great 2^— too great, some Englishmen 
thought, among them Mrs. Trollope, who compares their 
power to that of the Spanish Catholic priests. ''Where 
equality of rank is affectedly acknowledged by the rich and 
clamorously claimed by the poor, distinction and pre- 
eminence are allowed to the clergy only. ... I think also 
that it is from the clergy only that the women of America 
receive that sort of attention which is so dearly valued by 
every female heart throughout the world. ... I never 
saw, or read of any country where religion had so strong 
a hold upon the women, or a slighter hold upon the men." 
Making allowance for the fact that Mrs. Trollope 's pen 
I was dipped in gall, there is still an element of truth in w^hat 
she declared. Other travellers testify to the strong in- 
fluence of the clergy on the women of the congregation, 
for which they try to find a reason. It is true that while 
the men nominally managed the affairs of the church, 
women devoted themselves zealously to the practical work- 
ing-out of the schemes for its benefit. 

Practically every form of the Christian church, besides 
the Jewish, existed in the United States. The harmony 
which prevailed among them, and the apparent calmness 
with which the American usually took his religion, w^ere 
a source of astonishment to those who witnessed them.^* 
The fact was the more wonderful because of the European 
reputation which Americans had for dislike of opposition 
of any kind, and for the ability to become worked up to a 
state of great excitement over politics, or money matters, 

23 Mrs. Trollope, I, 103-104; Martineau, II, 363; Melish, II, 61-63. 

24 Hamilton, II, 395-396; De Roos, p. 59; Hodgson, II, 229-230 
(also note) ; Fearon, pp. 47-48. 



256 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

or other vital interests. Many travellers believed that the 
attitude toward religion was due to apathy and lack of 
enthusiasm. Fearon even intimated that the Americans 
regarded personal interest in choosing a denomination, and 
that they attended a certain church, not because of any 
religious conviction, but because it was profitable to do so.^^ 

Among the numerous sects, especially in the Middle At- 
lantic States, the Episcopalians generally stood foremost in 
social influence and in wealth, a great deal of the latter 
advantage having accrued to them from the income of 
lands granted before the Revolution.^® This church seems 
to have made on English visitors a most favorable impres- 
sion, undoubtedly because it closely resembled the Church 
of England. Travellers point out that pure Episcopacy 
was modified in America to suit the needs of a republican 
population. Certain parts of the service were eliminated, 
and others necessarily changed. Most Englishmen noted 
with approbation the omission of the Athanasian creed. 
Bishops and clergy were elected by popular vote, and the 
conventions admitted lay delegates as well as clergy, which 
was considered a radical change. 

This church drew to itself a large proportion of the 
wealthy and fashionable. De Roos tells of being taken in 
New York to an Episcopal church especially to be shown 
the ''principal inhabitants," though the friends who ac- 
companied him belonged to another denomination. Hamil- 
ton had somewhat the same experience in Boston where he 
attended an Episcopal service, the congregation of which, 
he says, was generally composed of the better orders. That 

25 Fearon, p. 46. 

26 For remarks on the Episcopal church, see Boardman, p. 45 ; 
Ouseley, p. 121; Fearon, p. 47; Bristed, p. 412; Blane, pp. 488-489; 
De Roos, pp. 59-60; Hamilton, I, 159; Candler, Chap. XIII (entire) ; 
Flower, pp. 92-93; Woods, p. 193. 



REtJGION 257 

this condition of affairs in the church did not always meet 
with approval is evident from the remark of a traveller 
that the reason for the greater proportion of Episcopalians i 
than Presbyterians among the fashionable was that the 
Presbyterians cared less for dress. Another attraction was 
the organs, of which the Episcopal churches generally had 
the monopoly. It was noticed that deists attended the 
churches of this denomination much more freely than they 
did the services of any other sect, a fact which might be 
a source of either reproach or pride to the Episcopalians, 
according to the personal point of view. 

Probably the best-known Episcopal churches in Amer- 
ica in this period were Trinity and St. Paul's, both in 
New York City. Practically everyone who visited Trinity 
commented on its monuments to Captain Lawrence of the 
''Chesapeake" and to Alexander Hamilton, also on the 
cemetery with its record of 160,000 to 200,000 burials. It 
also had the distinction of possessing the only chime of 
bells in the city." St. Paul's was one of the first churches 
in the country. It also had two notable monuments: one 
erected to Thomas Emmet, brother of the famous Irish 
orator, and the other to Cook, the actor, erected by Kean 
of the Drury Lane Theatre.^^ Boston, too, had its Trinity 
and its St. Paul's, which the stranger sometimes visited. 
These more closely resembled the English style of churches, 
it was said, than did any others.^^ 

There was no doubt in the minds of many travellers that 
the Episcopal church was destined to become the national 
form of religion in America. It had an admirable church 

27 For Trinity Church, see Tudor, I, 26; Coke, I, 136; Fowler, 
p. 226; Lambert, II, 57. 

28 For St. Paul's, see Neilson, p, 13; Lambert, II, 57; Coke, I, 
135-136; Tudor, I, 25-26. 

29Boardman, pp. 284, 286; Coke, I, 188. 



258 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

government and discipline, and its ministers were among 
the most enlightened of all people of their profession. It 
had, however, a rival in Unitarianism. The English atti- 
tude toward this latter sect is quite different from thatv 
held toward the Episcopal church; on Unitarianism there 
was division, some denouncing its tenets as rank Socinian- 
ism, others welcoming the independence of religious 
thought for which this denomination stood.^^ The spread- 
ing of its influence was a source of great anxiety to the 
orthodox, and the opposition shown to it by Americans 
afforded one of the few instances, some said the only in- 
stance, of war waged by American theologians after the 
Revolution. 

The stronghold of Unitarianism was New England, par- 
ticularly Boston. ''Fully half the population, and more 
than half the wealth and intelligence of Boston, are found 
in this communion," says Hamilton, who then attempts to 
explain the fitness of such a form of religion to that section 
of the country. The New Englander is more a creature of 
reason than of impulse — with sharp faculties and obtuse 
feelings; Unitarianism makes fewer demands on the faith 
or the imagination than any other Christian sect. "The 
prosperity of Unitarianism in the New England States, 
seems a circumstance which a philosophical observer of 
national character might, with no great difficulty, have 
predicted. Jonathan chose his religion as one does a hat, 
because it fitted him. We believe, however, that his head 
has not yet attained its full size, and confidently antici- 
pate that its speedy enlargement will ere long induce him 
to adopt a better and more orthodox covering." Hodg- 

30 For remarks on Unitarianism, see Hall, B., IT, 116, 119-120; 
Blane, p. 491; D'Arusmont, p. 320; Hamilton, I, 163-165; Hodgson, 
II, 237 ff.; Boardman, p. 57 ff., 201-202, 241; Palmer, p. 277; Hall, 
F., Appendix, p. 276; Duncan, I, 81-82. 



RELIGION 259 

son, too, attempted to explain the conditions among the 
population of Boston which were calculated to promote the 
extension of Unitarianism. He found them in the inability 
of these descendants of Puritans to suspect error in any 
creed with which they themselves were connected, in their 
consciousness of literary superiority, in their association of 
liberality and Unitarianism, and in their state of general 
ease and comfort, which had the effect of diminishing the 
necessity for religious consolation and inquiry. In regard 
to Harvard College, it was indeed a source of regret that 
that influential institution had fallen so entirely under the 
influence of this religious sect. Its liberal doctrines, we 
are told, prevented many parents from sending their sons 
there, though it was surprising, after all, to see how little 
this religious consideration affected the average American 
parent. 

While most of the interest centered in New England, ' 
Unitarianism fought its way through the Middle Atlantic 
States as well. When Boardman visited Philadelphia in 
1830, the number of Unitarians was rapidly increasing in 
spite of fierce attacks, he says. How far the influence of 
the sect penetrated is indicated by the fact that a traveller 
in 1821 said that Transylvania University in Lexington, 
Kentucky, was avowedly Unitarian in religion. 

Many visitors to Boston went to hear the celebrated Dr. 
Channing, and even those who could not subscribe to his 
doctrine admired him as a great preacher. ''He struck 
me," said a usually critical traveller," as being in many 
respects a very remarkable preacher, particularly in the 
quietness or repose of his manner. How far this pro- 
ceeded from the simplicity of his thoughts, or from the 
unaffected plainness of his language, I cannot exactly say, 
but the power which it gave him of introducing, when it 
suited his purpose, occasional passages of great force and 



260 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

richness of expression, was one of which he availed himself 
with much skill. . . . The tone of his voice was familiar, 
though by no means vulgar; on the contrary, it might al- 
most be called musical, and was certainly pleasing to the 
ear ; but whether this arose from the sounds themselves, or 
from the eloquent arrangement of the words, I never 
thought of enquiring, as I was carried along irresistibly by 
the smooth current of his eloquence. . . . He gradually 
embarked on the great ocean of religious controversy, but 
with such consummate skill, that we scarcely knew we 
were at sea till we discovered that no land was in sight. ' '^^ 

The philanthropic Abdy tells of a visit he paid to the cele- 
brated clergjrtnan, during which an argument arose in regard 
to the distinction between the black and the white races. 
The Englishman held to his view that the only distinction 
was one of color, and could not at all understand the po- 
sition maintained by this eminent man whom reputation had 
credited with a liberal mind! The discussion came to 
nothing, and Abdy was extremely discomfited to hear after- 
ward that the famous abolitionist had characterized him as 
an '^ enthusiast. " 

Another sect which figured largely in the religious life 
of New England was that of the Congregationalists, Pres- 
byterians, or Independents, as they were variously called.^^ 
They were said to practice a form of worship which re- 
conciled Presbjrterians and Episcopalians to meet in one 
church, a kind of ' ' relaxed Presbyterian service. ' ' All mat- 
ters in the church, Bristed says, were arranged by universal 
suffrage of the congregation. Usually the attitude toward 
them was favorable, as they seemed to be free from violent 

31 Hall, B., II, 112 ff.; Vigne, II, 233; Boardman, pp. 58-60, 286; 
Hamilton, I, 159; Abdy, III, 217 ff. 

32 For remarks on the Congregationalists, see Duncan, I, 313 ff.; 
Lambert, II, 66, 311, 335; Bristed, p. 313; Candler, p. 167. 



RELIGION 261 

heretical doctrines, while maintaining liberal views. Lam- 
bert comments on the fact that in 1806-8, the majority of 
Boston's 30,000 population were Congregationalists, who 
occupied nine places of worship. At the same time, New 
York, out of thirty-three churches, had only one belonging 
to this sect. In 1824, there was none at all in New York ; 
newcomers who were Congregationalist usually attended 
one of the fourteen orthodox Presb3rterian churches which 
the city boasted at that time, as the two sects were similar. 
Presbyterianism flourished generally throughout the Mid- 
dle and Southern states.^^ Travellers speak of attending 
services of this denomination in places as widely separated 
as New York and New Orleans. Harriet Martineau says 
that in the North, Presbyterians were numbered among the 
most energetic abolitionists, and in the South, among the 
most unfeeling defenders of slavery. They were also 
charged with being particularly bitter against the Catholics. 
This last-named denomination was much in the minority 
during this period.^* They were confined chiefly to Mary- 
land, and to the larger cities on the coast, New Orleans 
particularly. Baltimore was called the ''headquarters of 
Catholicism" and had the distinction of possessing the 
most beautiful cathedral in the country. It was built in 
the form of a Greek cross, and contained the largest organ 
in America. ^^ The Catholics apparently made few attempts 
to gain proselytes from the other denominations, but de- 
pended largely upon the great numbers of European emi- 
grants, chiefly Irish, to swell their numbers. In 1824, it 

33 Palmer, p. 276; Lambert, II, 269; Alexander, II, 18, 253; 
Martineau, II, 318-322; Candler, pp. 172-173. 

34 For Catholics, see Holmes, pp. 387, 390; Blane, p. 489 ff.; 
Fearon, p. 167; Bristed, p. 413; Neilson, p. 227; Murray, I, 207; 
Candler, p. 190 ff.; Martineau, II, 322 ff.; Duncan, I, 241. 

35 Mrs. Trollope, I, 292; Stuart, I, 250; Boardman, p. 258 ff.; 
Alexander, II, 258; Duncan, I, 220. 



262 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

was said that they did not comprise one-tenth of the popula- 
tion ; ten years later, Murray calls attention to their rapid 
increase, especially in the Western states. In regard to 
the attitude of other sects toward them, there was a dif- 
ference of opinion; for instance, Candler says they were 
nowhere viewed with jealousy, but Miss Martineau speaks 
of the bitter persecution of them throughout the country. 

The rise of Universalism was viewed with horror by Amer- 
icans and by Englishmen.^^ English travellers admitted 
that they did not understand the tenets of the sect, though 
several attempted to explain them. The general confusion 
of mind in regard to them is indicated by such remarks as 
the following by Murray: '* Besides the sects above men- 
tioned, there are a numerous body of Universalists, sub- 
divided into Mennonites, Tunkers, and Shakers." They 
were particularly objectionable to the conservative types 
of Calvinists, on whose tenets they professed to base their 
faith. ^'The sect labors under the imputation of disguised 
infidelity," said Abdy, '^though its origin may be traced 
to the Calvinistic doctrine of atonement — pushed to its ex- 
tremest consequences." Its doctrines were regarded as the 
most dangerous to the peace and happiness of society of 
the newer and more radical sects, though it was admitted 
to be an accommodating form of religion. 

The Baptists throughout this period were increasing 
rapidly in the Western districts.^^ Dalton says that in 
1793 there were in the United States 1032 Baptist churches 
with 73,471 members ; in 1817, the number of churches had 
reached 2727, and the membership, 183,245. The Baptists 

36 On Universalism, see Neilson, p. 227 ; Abdy, I, 236-240 ; Murray, 
II, 207; Holmes, pp. 390-391; Lambert, II, 309-310; Candler, pp. 
167-168; Palmer, p. 277; Fearon, p. 45. 

37 For Baptists, see Lambert, II, 373; Bristed, p. 413; Dalton, 
pp. 240-241; Melish, I, 37; Murray, II, 207; Candler, pp. 211 fiF. 



RELIGION 263 

were said to be notable for the pure democracy of their 
church government and for the quietness and austerity of 
their religious rites. Visitors to their camp-meetings wit- 
nessed no such excesses as distinguished the gatherings of 
their neighbors, the Methodists, with whom they shared a 
reputation for rapid increase. 

The growing influence of this latter sect was generally 
acknowledged;^^ they were found throughout the country, 
though they tended to increase most rapidly in the West 
and South. In the Southern districts, Methodism tended 
to supplant the older Episcopal forms of worship. Its 
simple appeal to all classes of society was seen to be rein- 
forced by the great amount of practical good which the 
Methodists accomplished. They were the first to bestow at- 
tention upon the religious and moral instruction of the 
slaves, and were said to be prominent in every movement to 
do away with vice and wickedness of all kinds. The part 
that they played in arousing interest in religion was con- 
ceded to be great, while the propriety of some of their rites 
was very much questioned. Many observers refused to take 
them seriously. ' ' The preachers of that sect, ' ' said Hamil- 
ton, ' ' are generally well adapted, by character and training, 
for the duties they are appointed to discharge. They per- 
fectly understand the habits, feelings and prejudices of 
those whom they address. They mingle in the social circles 
of the people, and thus acquire knowledge of the secrets 
of families, which is found eminently available in increas- 
ing their influence. Through their means, religion becomes 
mingled with the pursuits, and even the innocent amuse- 
ments of life. Young ladies chant hymns instead of Irish 
melodies ; and the profane chorus gives place to rhythmical 

38 For Methodists, see Candler, p. 211 ff.; Duncan, II, 369; 
Palmer, p. 276; Lambert, II, 107, 175; Hamilton, II, 394 (quota- 
tion). 



264 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

doxologies. Grog parties commence with prayer and ter- 
minate with benediction. Devout smokers say grace over 
a cigar, and chewers of the Nicotian weed insert a fresh 
' quid with an expression of pious gratitude." 
, Judging from the accounts of Methodist meetings visited 
/ by travellers, it was this sect that brought upon Americans 
^^ the charge of fanaticism.^^ The experience of most ob- 
servers seems to have been the same. Stentorian lungs 
were said to be the primary requisite for a minister of this 
sect; he harangued his audience, hurling upon sinners im- 
precation and entreaties to repent until half his congre- 
gation were weeping and groaning, perhaps as much from 
terror at his loud voice and violent gesticulations as from 
a conviction of sin. The appeal which this kind of preach- 
I ing made on the less-educated classes was tremendous, and 
accounts largely for the enormous increase of Methodism.*^ 
Revivals were met with in almost all the denominations. 
They were distinguished by a sudden excitement and en- 
thusiasm for things religious, and might arise from a 
variety of causes.^^ Sometimes a public calamity brought 
about one of these manifestations, it was said; more often 
they were inspired by some powerful preacher or evange- 
list. The people assembled in great numbers, the meetings 
continuing for several days. Fervid preaching, praying, 
and confession of religious experience took place. Often 
astonishing instances of infant piety were revealed. 
/ Travellers were much interested in the camp-meeting, 
f which in its most distinctive and interesting form at least, 

39 For descriptions of Methodist meetings, see Holmes, p. 388 ; 
Boardman, p. Gl ; Mackenzie, pp. 203-204; Lambert, II, 179-180; 
279; Fearon, p. 162 ff.; Wood, J., p. 193; Melish, I, 36-37. 

40 Candler, p. 214. 

41 For revivals, see Tudor, I, 419; Mrs. TroUope, I, 104 fif; Cand- 
ler, pp. 168-170. 



EELIGION 265 

was limited to Methodism.*^ It repeated all the features of 
the usual Methodist religious demonstration, multiplied 
many times, as the gathering was always a large one and 
numbered sometimes thousands of people. These assem- 
bled in a great open space, often a clearing in a forest, 
where they proceeded to pitch their tents for a week's 
stay. Fervent preaching and prayer went on continuously 
in several different places on the grounds, except during 
the late hours of the night, and the most extravagant 
demonstrations of religious enthusiasm were encouraged. 
Efforts were made to check anything approaching im- 
morality, but that charge was brought frequently against 
these gatherings. While camp-meetings were open to cri- 
ticism on many points, there is no doubt that they acted 
as a valuable aid to the quickening of religious life in the 
thinly settled regions, where any regular ministration of 
religion was impossible. 

The religious system of the United States was seen to 
include many other sects, in addition to these that have 
been discussed. The Dutch Reformed Church, for instance, 
was an important part of the religious life of New York 
and New Jersey.*^ In 1831, it was said that there were 148 
congregations of this sect in New York State alone, and 
602 in the whole country. The Friends, or Quakers, were 
numerous in the Middle Atlantic States, where it was no- 
ticed that they occupied a curious and rather detached 
position, being much engaged in works of benevolence, but 
taking small part in the life about them, and thus limiting 

42 For the most interesting comments on camp-meetings, see 
Blane, pp. 491-496; Holmes, p. 388; Lambert, II, 271 ff.; Neilson, 
p. 195; Palmer, pp. 154-155; Mrs. Trollope, I, 232 ff.; Flint, p. 257 
ff.; Stuart, I, 262 ff.; Ferrall, p. 71 ff.; Kendall, I, 232. 

43 For mention of Dutch Reformed Church, see Tudor, I, 28 1 
Abdy, I, 240-241. 



266 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

their influence.** There was a tradition that they refused 
to co-operate with other sects in their benevolent schemes 
because of the custom of opening charitable meetings with 
prayer, a procedure which was contrary to Quaker re- 
ligious principles. Moravians and Swedish Lutherans also 
abounded throughout the Middle Atlantic States, especially 
near Philadelphia.*^ In most of the large cities of the 
nation there was at least one Jewish synagogue.*^ The 
Jews, on the whole, were believed to be rather well-treated 
in America. "I am surprised," said Blane, ''that all who 
profess the Hebrew faith do not emigrate to the United 
States, as they would there not only be free from civil 
incapacities (particularly as regards landed property), but 
would even find themselves eligible to the highest offices in 
the Republic." As early as 1806 there were many wealthy 
and respectable Jewish families in New York, where they 
seemed to suffer no invidious distinctions, according to one 
traveller, Lambert, though Candler includes them later 
(1824) with Unitarians and Universalists in the three 
classes of persecuted sects. 

This period witnessed the beginning or development of 
two or three religious communistic experiments. One of 
these, Mormonism, did not become known till about 1830, 
when it had only six ministers.*^ By 1834, the sect was 
said to number almost 6,000 converts, with 800 ministers. 
Not much was said about this mysterious religion by for- 

*4For the Quakers, see Weld, I, 25-26; Duncan, I, 207; Mrs. 
Trollope, II, 92-94; Lambert, II, 106; Bristed, p. 413; Candler, pp. 
199-210; Mackenzie, pp. 234-235; Abdy, III, 187-188; Holmes, p. 
390. 

45 Weld, I, 26; Abdy, I, 240-241. 

46 On the Jews, see Abdy, I, 241; Blane, p. 488; Lambert, II, 
106-107, 159; Candler, p. T71. 

47 On Mormons, see Abdy, III, 54-58, also I, 324-325; Hamilton, 
II, 309 ff.; Murray, II, 207 (quotation); Alexander, II, 129-130. 



RELIGION 267 

eigners, who evidently did not understand what its doctrines 
were, though one traveller designates the adherents as 
''fanatics, whose extravagant tenets and disgraceful im- 
morality of practice render them undeserving of the name 
of sectarians.'' Travellers mentioned having seen them 
here and there throughout the country, usually en route to 
the West. 

Far more interesting to the stranger was that peculiar 
''excrescence" on the religious life of the United States, 
as an American author calls it, known as the Shakers, or 
the Shaking Quakers. Very few travellers who visited one 
of these communities could abstain from writing a full 
account of it, so that we have numberless repetitions of the 
same facts.^^ The sect was founded by Ann Lee, the 
daughter of a Manchester blacksmith, who came to Amer- 
ica in 1774 with a few followers and settled near Albany, 
New York. It was believed by them that the millennium 
had arrived and that Christ had appeared the second time 
in the person of the founder of the religion. Gradually 
communities sprang up in New York State, Massachusetts, 
Connecticut, Maine, and even in Ohio and Kentucky. 
Strangers were impressed with the neat and prosperous 
appearance of the Shaker farms, the order and regularity 
of their lives, and the manifest contentment with their lot. 
Men and women lived separately, with little communication 
except during their social meetings. The two principal 
tenets of their faith were celibacy and communistic shar- 
ing of all earthly possessions. Because of their industry 

48 For the best accounts of the Shakers, see Holmes, p. 392 ff.; 
Candler, p. 217 ff.; Abdy, I, 254 ff.; Vigne, II, 259 ff. (quotation); 
Hamilton, II, 290 ff.; Mrs. Trollope, I, 194 ff.; Hall, B., I, 111-112; 
Martineau, I, 310 ff; Coke, I, 195 ff.; Ferrall, p. 58 ff.; Wakefield, 
pp. 201-203; Melish, II, 303 (note); Hodgson, I, 399-400; Stuart, 
I, 185 ff.; Tudor, I, 152-175. 



268 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

and thrift, and the excellent quality of their productions, 
the Shakers became very prosperous, and were known to 
give large sums of money for benevolent purposes. 

Most people who visited them believed in their sincerity 
but censured their doctrines. Their indifference to the 
claims of natural affection repelled many observers. Their 
queer costumes, their disregard of everything but the most 
rudimentary education, their theocratic system of govern- 
ment, and their extraordinary method of worship, aroused 
little sympathy. In regard to the last, Basil Hall said that 
though he had witnessed some strange forms of worship 
in former travels, he had never beheld anything, even in 
Hindoostan, to match these Shakers. The following de- 
scription by Vigne is perhaps as distinctive as any of the 
accounts: ''About fifty men and women were arranged 
en masse, with their faces toward each other, and with an 
intervening space of about ten feet. The service com- 
menced by an elder coming forward between them and 
delivering a few words of exhortation. Several others fol- 
lowed his example at intervals during the service. . . . 
Hymns were then sung by them in their places, each of 
them shaking the whole time. They then performed a 
regular dance, holding hands, advancing and retiring, to a 
most uproarious tune, sung by a few of them formed in 
a small circle, who gave the words and the time to the 
others as they afterwards paraded in pairs around the 
room, singing very loudly the whole time — hopping heavily, 
first on one foot, then on the other, — flapping their hands 
the whole time before them, with their elbows stuck into 
their sides, and looking for all the world like so many 
penguins in procession. It was not till the end of the 
service that they all fairly fell on their knees, and sang a 
hymn, as if they were asking pardon for their vagaries. ' ' 

Another curious experiment of the communistic type was 



RELIGION 269 

worked out at Harmony, Indiana, under the direction 
of a German enthusiast, George Rapp. Few travellers 
went West without visiting this community.*^ The Rap- 
pites were much like the Shakers in many respects. Their 
beliefs included celibacy and communistic sharing of prop- 
erty. Their attitude toward life was, on the whole, con- 
sidered more normal than that of the Shakers; the most 
curious feature of the experiment was the influence exerted 
by its founder. Visitors were interested to see that this 
strange personality dominated the entire existence of the 
hundreds of people who became members of the com- 
munity; no language but German was permitted to be 
spoken, members were allowed to hold no communication 
with strangers, and all money which came into this pros- 
perous, industrious community was paid over unhesi- 
tatingly to the head. In this way Rapp was said to have 
accumulated large sums of money, the ultimate disposal of 
which has always been more or less mysterious. Trouble 
arose inevitably in regard to financial matters, and a suc- 
cession of law-suits started the downward career of. the sect. 
These communistic ventures were perhaps of little vital 
importance, ''superficial appendages without organic signi- 
ficance.^' As a whole, it was seen that the American 
people did not take kindly to strange and unusual forms 
of religion, nor were they carried about by ''every wind of 
fashionable doctrine." A spirit of practicality and con- 
servatism pervaded their church life, and kept them alike 
from the heights and depths of religious experience. 

49 For Rapp's settlement, see Stuart, II, 251-252; Murray, I, 
143-144; Blane, p. 244 ff.; Martineau, I, 315 ff.; Harris, pp. 134- 
135; Faux, pp. 249-251; Hulme, "Journal," pp. 53-61; Birkbeck, 
"Notes on a Journey," pp. 135-136. 



CHAPTER X 
FAIklOUS CONTROVERSIES 

The period of fifty years with -which we have to do, wit- 
nessed several spirited conflicts with the pen, engagements 
in which the United States became involved chiefly as the 
defender of her institutions and her ideals. The feeling 
between this country and England, which had its origin in 
the Revolution and its development in the growing im- 
portance of the new republic, seemed to come to a climax 
just about the middle of this period; by 1835, though the 
mutual lack of understanding persisted, the relations had 
become less hostile, and the two nations assumed a less 
prejudiced and more just attitude toward each other. 

In the period before the beginning of the War of 1812, 
the United States was particularly unfortunate in the type 
of travellers who came here, and who afterward found 
it either their duty or their pleasure to open the eyes of 
their fellow countrymen in regard to American institutions. 
In such a comparatively new state of civilization there 
was, of course, much that was unusual and crude and far 
removed from the ordinary experiences of the average Eng- 
lishman. Considering that there were practical obstacles 
even in the way of comfortable living, one could expect 
very little of the finer side of life to be revealed. Amer- 
icans complained that travellers saw nothing but the in- 
conveniences of travel. ' ' Neither the soil, ' ' said one native 
writer, ''its productions, its advantages or disadvantages, 
nor any of those subjects which occupy the attention of 
liberal, enlightened and scientific travellers, excite their 

270 



FAMOUS CONTROVERSIES 271 

curiosity or merit investigation. ' ' ^ Very few visitors tar- 
ried long enough to look below the surface of this disor- 
ganized, unassimilated state of society and to find the 
elements of strength and greatness which were bound at 
some time to come to the surface. The larger proportion 
of the accounts written in this period were not in friendly 
vein; many of the observers, like Parkinson and Ashe for 
instance, were men of limited education or of inferior char- 
acter, with no capacity for taking the large and fair view 
of American life. Besides the works turned out by these 
travellers. Englishmen at home had as their guide only 
the newspapers, in which criticism of America was rife. 
These the United States could afford to ignore and did 
ignore; it was only when the animosity was carried into 
higher quarters that it became necessary for a self-respect- 
ing nation to defend herself against it. It was not until 
the English reviews, under the direction of some of the 
chief literary men of the time, turned their batteries 
against America, that the real conflict began. 

The English Quarterly Revieiv was founded in 1809, 
and in the November number of that year there appeared 
a discussion of Abiel Holmes' ''American Annals." This 
was made the excuse for a severe attack upon American 
institutions and manners. The reviewer based his remarks 
chiefly upon the accounts of Ashe, Janson, and Weld. Of 
these, Weld is probably the most to be credited f his works 
offer much valuable material, but we should hardly agree 
with the reviewer when he says that Weld's book has no 
gross exaggerations, with the exception of the story of the 
mosquito so enormous that it bit General Washington 
through his leather boot.^ Janson was one of those travel- 

1 Paulding, J. K., "The United States and England" (1815), p. 50. 

2 See reference to Weld in The North American Review, I, 65. 
^Quarterly Review, II, 334 (note). 



272 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

lers who came to America for personal gain. He intended 
to practice law, it was said; having invested his money 
unwisely in American stocks, he lost the greater part of 
it. This made him very bitter against the land of his 
adoption. The North American Review says that he 
''was dissatisfied, and grumbled at everything, got into 
debt, and was obliged to make his escape from his credi- 
tors."* His account, like so many others, is colored by 
personal feeling, which leads him into ridiculous statements. 
When his book, "The Stranger in America," appeared in 
1806, it was ornamented with sketches which the author 
attributed to his own skill. Paulding, later, in 1815, proved 
that they were copied from a set of engravings published 
some years before by Birch, an American.^ Ashe also had 
his failings, it seems. Not only were his statements patently 
untruthful in some respects, but he was mysteriously con- 
cerned with the removal of some archaeological remains 
from the Western region that he visited. 

It was on the accounts of such unreliable visitors as these 
that the early reviews were based, therefore one is not 
surprised, though one may be regretful, at the astonishing 
statements believed by Englishmen. The review under dis- 
cussion gives a scathing account of American manners and 
depicts the people as living in the semi-savage state. It 
abounds in such sweeping statements as the following: 
''There is scarcely any medium in America between over- 
godliness and a brutal irreligion," and "Slavery exists in 
the Southern states and consequently hardens the hearts 
and corrupts the morals of the people ; the Northern states 
have hardly outgrown their fanaticism." It patronizingly 
admits a hope for the future, however; "This is an un- 
favorable picture, yet surely not an unfair one, nor has it 

4 North American Review, I, 68. 

5 See Paulding, "The United States and England," pp. 21-22. 



FAMOUS CONTROVERSIES 273 

been drawn by an unfriendly band. Let but the Amer- 
ican government abstain from war, and direct its main 
attention to the education of the people and the encourage- 
ment of arts and knowledge, and in a very few generations, 
their country may vie with Europe."® 

The injustice of The Quarterly's attitude was emphasized 
by the fact that The Edinburgh Review also, at one time or 
another, had occasion to mention these same travellers and 
estimated them at their true worth. In 1806, this periodical 
discussed Janson's *' Stranger in America" very critically, 
showing that his statements were exaggerated and his con- 
clusions unjust, and that the hand was ''more employed than 
the head" in the making of his book.*^ The issue for Jan- 
uary, 1810, reviewed Ashe's book as a work of ''extra- 
ordinary pretensions." "His account of the Atlantic 
States, indeed," says the reviewers, "forms the most com- 
prehensive piece of national abuse we ever recollect to 
have perused. ' ' ® Another early traveller in the class of 
Ashe and Janson, who was frequently quoted by the Eng- 
lish, was Parkinson, who, it was said, was a gardener. He 
came to this country to speculate in land and was bitterly 
disappointed in his investment. His disillusioned, prej- 
udiced account was often used as an authority on American 
life. The Edinburgh takes up the question of this book 
(October, 1805) and shows how impossible it is that his 
statements can be true, as for instance, his assertion that 
there is no good land in America. What the reviewer con- 
cludes in regard to his work might be said of any of the 
books of this type and of this period : "In the whole of his 
numerous details and anecdotes, we can discover nothing 
asserted of that country which might not have been pre- 

6 Quarterly Revieiv, II, 337. 

7 Edinburgh Review, X, 103 S. 

8 Ibid., XV, 442 e. 



274 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

dieted from a little consideration of its peculiar circum- 
stances, and no inconvenience imputed which is not sus- 
ceptible of an effectual remedy, either at the present 
moment, or in the rapid progress of its improvement. ' ' ® 

The real beginning of hostilities was, however, to come a 
little later. In 1810, there appeared in New York a little 
book with the lengthy title of ' ' Inchiquin, the Jesuit 's Let- 
ters, during a Late Kesidence in the United States of 
America; being a fragment of a private correspondence 
accidentally discovered in Europe; containing a favourable 
view of the manners, literature, and state of society of the 
United States, and refutation of many of the aspersions 
cast upon this country by former residents and tourists; 
By some unknown foreigner." These letters were sup- 
posed to have been written by an Irish Jesuit who had 
taken up his residence in the United States. With an 
amused appreciation of the shortcomings of America, the 
author, w^ho was later identified as C. Jared Ingersoll, a 
Pennsylvanian, united a lively indignation at the treatment 
which his country had suffered at the hands of English 
observers. He takes up the much disputed question of the 
characters of Adams and Jefferson, and shows wherein 
each was strong and weak. ''When a little time shall have 
softened the asperity of faction," he says, ''it is probable 
that the imbecility imputed to the one, and the hypocrisy 
charged to the other, will be in a great measure forgotten, 
and the patriotism of both be generally acknowledged."^^ 
He reviews the two books which were probably at that time 
the best-known in America, Barlow's "Columbiad" and 
Marshall's "Life of Washington," showing fairly the good 
qualities and the limitations of each. He puts literature 
and the fine arts in their proper place in American life, 

9 Edinhurgh Review, VII, 33. 

10 "Inchiquin, the Jesuit's Letters," p. 77. 



FAMOUS CONTROVERSIES 275 

and judges the national manners and character in the light 
of the youth of the country and other circumstances under 
which they exist. ^^ An important contribution that he 
makes is an analysis of the commercial spirit in America, 
showing its origin and its real and salutary influence on 
the character of the people.^- In conclusion, he states the 
object of these ostensible letters: "Into what errors I may 
have been betrayed by a partiality which I am proud to 
acknowledge, I cannot determine: though a strict regard 
to the unexaggerated truth has guided my pen. Probably 
they are not the fewer from a feeling which all along ac- 
companied me that I was repelling prejudices, the demoli- 
tion of which was to be the first step toward my object. 
An affectation of contempt for America is one of the only 
prejudices in which all the nations of Europe seem to con- 
cur. . . . The soil has been represented as parsimonious 
and abortive; the climate as froward and pernicious; the 
creatures as stunted and debased below their species; the 
manners, principles, and government as suited to this uni- 
versal depravity. These absurdities appeared engraved 
with the stamp of knowledge and authority, their circula- 
tion was general and accredited, and it is amazing how cur- 
rent they continue to this day, notwithstanding the proofs 
that have successively adduced themselves of their falsifica- 
tion and baseness. ' ' ^^ 

Though this little book was moderate in statement and 
apparently sincere in aim, it became the starting point of 
a bitter discussion. In the number of January, 1814, no- 
tice was first taken of it by The Quarterly, which made the 
review the excuse for another unwarranted and scathing 
denunciation of America. This article is wrongly at- 

11 "Inchiquin, the Jesuit's Letters, p. 129. 

12 Ibid., p. 139 ff. 

13 Ibid., pp. 164-165. 



276 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

tributed to the poet laureate, Southey^* ; one wonders how 
anybody could have seriously made those sweeping general- 
izations, such as ''In America, the 'man of the people' is 
one who frequents the grogshops, smokes his segar, and 
harangues the populace with violent and inflammatory 
abuse of the hostile faction;" "Most of the members (of 
Congress) may be said to be the representatives of peach 
brandy and rye whiskey;" "There are no impartial de- 
cisions in the courts;" "There is no respectable country 
gentleman known in America," etc. The writer declares 
that the religious life of America is uniformly gloomy, that 
slaves are treated like mere cattle, and that Americans are a 
race of intemperate, knavish, immoral people. Even the 
English language is not safe in their hands ; Americans are 
attempting to get rid of it, not only by barbarizing it, but 
by doing away w^ith it entirely and by making a new one 
of their own.^^ 

This open abuse from such a source could not pass un- 
challenged. It called forth in America three works in 
vindication; these were published almost simultaneously. 
The North American Review, in its first number (1815) 
rushed to the rescue. It exposed the character of The 
Quarterly's authorities. Priest, Wansey, Burnaby, Parkin- 
son, Moore, Cobbett, etc., all of whom were more or less 
unreliable. The reviewer employed a weapon which came 
to be very much used in these wordy battles, that is, facts 
in regard to the enemy's affairs, by way of odious com- 
parison. In short, the article endeavored to show either 
that many of the outrageous statements regarding the 
United States were not to be credited at all, or that, if 

14 See Dwight, T., "Remarks on the Review of Inchiquin's Letters," 
1815, Preface, p. vi; also Southey's letter of denial republished from 
The London Courier in The North American Review, I, 442-443. 

15 Quarterly Review, X, 501-528. 



FAMOUS CONTROVERSIES 277 

certain disadvantages existed, such faults were not pecu- 
liar to America alone. 

In a note at the end of the article, the reviewer states 
that another vindication has just come to his attention. 
This was a small book called "Remarks on the Review of 
Inchiquin's Letters Published in the Quarterly Review; 
Addressed to the Right Honorable George Canning, Esq. 
by An Inhabitant of New England" (Boston, 1815). 
That this was to offer a more spirited defence was evident 
from the preface. Its author, Timothy Dwight, president 
of Yale College, criticises both The Quarterly and The Edin- 
hurgh, the latter of which, he says, ''sometimes exhibits 
superior talents but, as a whole, ... is a nuisance to the 
world. " ^^ It is impossible, in this discussion, to do more 
than touch upon the points that Dwight refutes. He takes 
up in detail the statements of The Quarterly, and denies 
most of them. If denial is impossible, he shows that an 
equally bad state of affairs prevails in England. He in- 
cidentally throws light upon contemporary opinion of the 
policies of Jefferson and Madison, and of the conduct of the 
War of 1812.^^ He maintains the decency of American 
elections, the impartial justice of the bench, and the dig- 
nity of religious toleration. ^^ On the score of religion, he 
attacks the English clergy for non-residence and neglect of 
duty.^^ Throughout his discussion he emphasizes a gen- 
eral criticism of all English remarks on the United States, 
— that is, that the adverse statements were based on 
isolated instances of bad manners, cruelty, injustice, in- 
tolerance, etc., without taking into account much that was 
said to the contrary, sometimes by the same traveller. He 
takes up the question of the slave trade in the United 
States, not extenuating the horrors of it, but showing that 

16 Dwight, Preface, p. vii. is Ibid., pp. 37 flf., 44 flf., 50 flf. 

17 Ibid., p. 15 ff. 19 Ibid., p. 63 ff. 



278 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

England's record in that respect is much more to be crit- 
icised.^° On no point has the reviewer been more scathing 
than in regard to the genius and learning of America — 
"a subject which I believe no British Journalist who has 
meddled at all with America, and scarcely a single British 
traveller w^ho has visited its shores, has passed by. ' ' ^^ How 
ridiculous some of these strictures of The Quarterly are, is 
shown by the statement that with Barlow's ''Columbiad," 
which is criticised severely, may be classed "a poem by a 
Mr. Fingal, no descendant, we believe, of the Caledonian 
bard of that name." The reference is of course to Trum- 
bull's ''Mac Fingal," as Dwight shows.^^ One of the most 
interesting parts of the discussion takes up the question of 
the English language and the changes which the Americans 
have made in it ; the author appends a long list of English 
words w^hich are daily mispronounced in London.^^ 

Dwight 's reply to The Quarterly article was reinforced 
by James K. Paulding's ''The United States and Eng- 
land," published in Philadelphia in 1815. The author says 
in his "Advertisement" that the only attempt that he has 
seen ' ' to answer the uncandid and swaggering attack made 
upon the reputation of the people of the United States . . . 
is contained in a series of letters published in an Eastern 
paper. This defence consists pretty much in an admission 
of most of the charges, provided an exception is made in 
favour of New England. For ourselves, we know of no such 
discriminating patriotism as this; and however it may be 
the fashion in that part of the Union to offer up their 
brethren as sacrifices to their own interests, we do not ad- 
mire it enough to make it the object of our imitation." The 
reviewer, Paulding says, "is no less a person than the 
poet laureate of all England. This office was instituted 

20 Dwight, p. 23 fiF. 22 ibid., pp. 107-108. 

21 Ibid., pp. 106-107. 23 Ibid., p. 140 fif. 



FAMOUS CONTROVERSIES 279 

on the abolition of that of King's fool, which had become 
a sinecure on account of their majesties' playing it gener- 
ally themselves. ' ' ^* However, the purpose of the writer 
is not to enter into a contest of vulgar abuse. ''Our object 
is simply to show . . . that if instances of senatorial in- 
decorum, vulgar immorality and habitual intoxication are 
to be the standards of the public manners and morals, they 
may be found even in England ; and that if one case is to 
condemn a nation, the claims of his [the reviewer's] coun- 
try to either religion, refinement, or morality, will be rather 
difficult to establish. " ^^ It is on this principle that the 
book is written; on the question of the corruption of the 
United States courts, the conditions of the prisons, the 
number of illegitimate religious sects, the bad state of man- 
ners and morals, retaliation upon England is made by the 
use of carefully chosen facts. 

Hardly had the echoes of this controversy died away 
when a second one was precipitated by the publication of 
another American book. This was Robert Walsh's ''An 
Appeal from the Judgments of Great Britain Respecting 
the United States of America" (1818). This book, Alli- 
bone says, was "the earliest considerable remonstrance 
against the derogatory estimates of America, then the fash- 
ion of English travellers." The author in his preface 
avows his purpose to be " not merely to assert the merits of 
this calumniated country; I w^ish to repel actively, and if 
possible to arrest, the war which is waged without stint or 
intermission, upon our national reputation. This, it now 
appears to me, cannot be done without combating on the 
offensive; without making inroads into the quarters of the 
restless enemy." He has long indulged the hope, he says, 
that the false impressions of the higher class of English 

24 "The United States and England," p. 13. 

25 Ibid., p. 17. 



280 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

critics would disappear in view of the real conditions which 
palpably existed in America, but The Edinlyurgh and The 
Quarterly have lately put beyond question the insuffi- 
ciency of any amount of evidence to work the reformation. 
In his retaliation upon England he intends to use the 
highest authority, "the records of Parliament and the 
oracles of the British Empire." He takes up the question 
of the most recent book on America, which Earl Grey has 
quoted as an authority at a public dinner, and which has 
just been reviewed in The Quarterly, Fearon's "Sketches 
of America." Inasmuch as this author has been discon- 
tented with the condition of affairs in England, the re- 
viewer censures him; when he attacks American institu- 
tions he is praised.^^ In regard to the few favorable re- 
marks that he makes about America, as for instance, that in 
New York every industrious man can get employment, The 
Quarterly is careful to state that the traveller has been 
hasty in his judgments, or that in this matter he is not 
competent to speak. "One valuable quality, indeed, Mr. 
Fearon possesses," the reviewer tells us, "and it is this 
which, in spite of numerous defects, renders his book one 
of the most interesting and amusing that ever came before 
us. He is a lover of truth, and so far as he discerns it, is 
ready to set it forth. We cannot recollect an instance, dur- 
ing the whole of our progress through his voluminous work, 
in which a suspicion of his veracity as to what he saw and 
heard, crossed our minds. ' ' ^^ Walsh convicts this author 
not only of "flippancy and rancour" but of absolute false- 
hood as well.-® Having disposed of him in his preface, he 
goes through the early history of America, telling of the 

26 Quarterly Review, XXI, 125-126 

27 Ibid., XXI, 166. 

28 See Walsh on Fearon's remarks concerning redemptioners, for 
instance. Preface, p. xxviii flf. 



FAMOUS CONTROVERSIES 281 

difficulties surmounted, and of the numerous acts of injus- 
tice suffered by the colonists at the hands of the British. 
He emphasizes the aid which the Americans gave the 
English in the French and Indian Wars, and the commer- 
cial value to England that America has always represented. 
Then follows a bitter denunciation of both The Edinburgh 
and The Quarterly; ''They have indeed carried opposite 
ensigns, and made their attacks in modes somewhat dis- 
similar. The hostilities of the English critics have been 
more direct and coarse, and accompanied with fewer pro- 
fessions of moderation and good will; those of the Scottish 
have been waged almost always with protestations of 
friendship, and at times with the affectation of a formal 
defence of the object." ^^ He traces the remarks on Amer- 
ica in The Edinhurgh from the fourth number, which re- 
viewed John Davis's ''Travels in America, 1798-1802," 
to the time at which he is writing. He complains that, 
though the infamous accounts of such men as Ashe were 
undoubtedly held up to reprobation, the reviews were made 
the excuse for sly ridicule and derision of the Americans. 

The Quarterly was still more of an enemy, from its in- 
timate connection with the English government. The politi- 
cal object, therefore, said Walsh, was the chief considera- 
tion in its criticism.^^ Through such criticisms, however, 
as those on Inchiquin 's ' ' Letters, " " The Travels of Lewis 
and Clark," and Golden 's "Life of Fulton," it had taken 
the opportunity to revile America. Walsh devoted a whole 
section to the strictures on the slave trade as it existed in 
the United States; "the side on which we appear most 
vulnerable and against which the reviewers have directed 
their fiercest attacks ... If there is any nation upon 
which prudence and shame enjoined silence in regard to 
the negro bondage of these States, England is that nation, 

29 Walsh, p. 214. 30 Ibid, p. 249. 



282 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA. 

but it happens precisely as in all the other questions open 
to the most direct recrimination, that it is from her the 
loudest outcries and the sharpest upbraidings have come." 
He shows the impractability of the freeing of the slaves in 
the United States, and exposes the fallacy of some of the 
statements regarding cruelty toward the free and the en- 
slaved blacks.^^ 

The Edi7ihurgh Review, immediately upon the publica- 
tion of Walsh 's book, took up the discussion in its own de- 
fence.^2 It considered the work ''a vehement and unjust 
attack on the principles of this journal." It attempted to 
explain what had been meant by the criticisms of certain 
authors, Barlow and Chief Justice Marshall, for instance, 
and it disclaimed all attempt to excite animosity. The at- 
titude of the review was, that the Americans were super- 
sensitive and were cherishing imaginary wrongs. ''The 
sum of it is, that in point of fact we have spoken far more 
good of America than ill, that in nine instances out of ten, 
when we have mentioned her, it has been for praise, — and 
that in almost all that is essential or of serious importance, 
we have spoken nothing hut good, while our censures have 
been wholly confined to matters of inferior note, and gen- 
erally accompanied with an apology for their existence and 
a prediction of their speedy disappearance." Even now, 
though as a book, Walsh's work was not particularly ad- 
mirable, the reviewer agreed with him on many points, and 
wished well to his labors. As one reads today through the 
files of The Edinburgh, one is impressed with the justice of 
the review's attitude. 

The North American Review of course took up the de- 
fence of Walsh, and gave a detailed review of his book, sec- 
tion by section. ^^ It is sufficient to say that this article 

31 Walsh, p. 306 ff. 32 Edinburgh Review, XXXIII, 395 flf. 

33 North American Review, X, 334 ff. 



FAMOUS CONTROVERSIES 283 

considered Walsh justified in his remarks. "The United 
States," it said, "has been attacked by grave authorities, 
but derived from ignoble and contemptible sources." 
Walsh 's book was said by the English reviews to have been 
instrumental, with The North American Review in impress- 
ing "upon America that she has become in this country 
the object of systematic hatred and contumely."^* This 
was refuted by The North American; "It was only when 
tourists, to whom grammar was a mystery and a decent 
coat a despaired-of treasure, who fled from the English 
bailiffs to America, and back again from the American con- 
stables to England, — it was only when this worthy class of 
travellers was espoused, quoted, and believed, . . . that we 
thought the quarrel worth taking up." ^^ 

That hostilities went on more or less through the next 
few years, may be seen from the publication of several 
American books on the subject, and from the reviews of 
English travels printed by English periodicals. The best 
kno^\Ti of the former type of w^ork were two books by James 
K. Paulding, "A Sketch of Old England by a New England 
Man" (1822) and "John Bull in America, or the New 
Munchausen" (1824), and James Fenimore Cooper's "No- 
tions of America, Picked up by a Travelling Bachelor." 
These were more or less serious attempts to reveal the 
injustice of the average English traveller to the United 
States. When we turn to the reviews of travels in The 
Quarterly for the decade after 1820, we find the hostile 
attitude still consistently revealed. In 1822, this periodical 
published discussions of four books on America. ^^ Two of 
these accounts were favorable to the United States — Wil- 
liam Tell Harris's "Remarks Made during a Tour through 

34 See article in The New London Monthly, February, 1821. 

35 North American Review, XIII, 26. 
se Quarterly Review, XXVII, 71 ff. 



284 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

the United States of America,'^ and Frances Wright 
D 'Arusmont 's, ''View of Society in America." Concern- 
ing these two books, nothing complimentary could be said ; 
Harris was characterized as being ''strongly disposed to 
find all things as they should be" ; Madame D'Arusmont was 
attacked bitterly. Her book was called "an impudent at- 
tempt ... to foist into public notice, under a spurious title, 
namely that of an Englishwoman, a most ridiculous and 
extravagant panegyric on the government and the people 
of the United States. ' ' The reviewer added that he had at 
first believed the book to be by Walsh, "who, finding that 
his former work had made no converts on this side of the 
Atlantic . . . had attempted to revive it under a more tak- 
ing title." A third book reviewed. Flower's "Letters from 
the Illinois," was passed over rapidly as "adding little to 
our knowledge," while Welby's "Visit to North America, 
1819-20" was highly approved. This book sets forth Amer- 
ica generally in an unfavorable light. The author, The 
Quarterly said, "is tolerably free from prejudice, though 
he, too, occasionally talks nonsense about the taxation and 
oppression of England." 

In no case is this prejudice of The Quarterly so well re- 
vealed as in the review of Faux's "Memorable Days in 
America. " ^^ It was true that the author was vulgar and 
coarse, that he constantly betrayed the hospitality of those 
who entertained him, but, it was said, he was honest and 
told the truth to the best of his knowledge and belief. 
"From such a man, one practical page is worth all the radi- 
cal trash of the Halls,^^ the Wrights, and the Tell Harris's 
in enabling us to form a just estimate of an emigrant's 
prospects in a 'land of boasted liberty!' " 

It was the same traveller whom Blackwood's dismissed 

ST Quarterly Review, XXIX, 338 ff. 
38 Hall, Lieut. Francis. 



FAMOUS CONTROVERSIES 285 

summarily as ''a simpleton of the first water,'* and to 
whose account credence was denied by that periodical.^^ 
The North American Review ignored the work until the 
article in The Quarterly brought up the matter and made 
it seem necessary to attempt some defence.^*^ Faux was 
shown to have come to America, not for his ostensible pur- 
pose of investigating the conditions and prospects of Eng- 
lish emigrants, but to look after some real estate connected 
with his family. The editor of Paulding's ''John Bull in 
America" says that the review of this book was thrown 
out of the American republication of The Quarterly, so 
notoriously untrue were its statements.*^ 

It is true that on both sides efforts were constantly being 
made by certain writers to produce a better feeling. The 
best-known attempt was that of Irving in his ''English 
Writers on America" included in "The Sketch Book" 
(1819). While deploring the credence lent in England to 
the unjust and incomplete accounts of the United States, 
he says: "I shall not, however, dwell on this irksome and 
hackneyed topic, nor should I have adverted to it, but for 
the undue interest apparently taken in it by my country- 
men, and certain injurious effects which I apprehended it 
might produce upon the national feeling. We attach too 
much consequence to these attacks. They cannot do us any 
essential injury. The tissue of misrepresentations at- 
tempted to be woven around us are like cobwebs woven 
around the limbs of an infant giant. Our country continu- 
ally outgrows them; one falsehood after another falls off 
of itself. We have but to live on, and every day we live a 
whole volume of refutation." Many English observers, 

39 See Blackicood's Magazine, XIV, 562 ff. 

40 North American Review, XIX, 92 ff. 

41 See Paulding, "John Bull in America," p. 174. Preface of Editor 
to First Edition. 



286 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

several of them among the most reputable of travellers, ad- 
mitted the shortcomings of their countrymen in observation 
and in tact. Hodgson remarked that English travellers 
often saw only one side of American life, and that there 
were often important omissions in their works. The tone 
of discussion in England concerning America, was some- 
times, he admitted, neither just nor liberal.*^ De Roos, in 
speaking of the Americans, says: ''Though vilified in our 
Journals and ridiculed upon our Stage, they will be found 
upon nearer inspection to be brave, intelligent, kind- 
hearted, and unprejudiced. Though impressed with an 
ardent, perhaps an exaggerated admiration of their own 
country, they speak of others without envy, malignity, or 
detraction. " *^ In regard to the feeling of enmity which 
America was supposed to cherish toward England, many 
visitors declared that they could perceive none of it. Blane 
and Francis Hall both believed that America was doing 
her part to provoke a good feeling — the name of English- 
man, Blane said, was a passport to kindness and attention.'** 
Melish, too, maintained that, so far as he could see, there 
was no animosity in the United States against the British 
people y but against the government ^ at the hands of which 
America had suffered a long list of wrongs.*^ 

But these books were an exception to the rule. Mr. 
Tuckerman thus sums up the condition that prevailed 
through most of this period : ' ' There was, indeed, from the 
close of the War of 1812, for a series of years, an inunda- 
tion of English books of travel, wherein the United States, 
their people, and their prospects, were discussed with a 
monotonous recapitulation of objections, a superficial 
knowledge, and a predetermined depreciation, which render 
the task of analyzing their contents and estimating their 

42 Hodgson, II, 267. 44 Blane, p. 500; Hall, F., p. 37. 

43 De Roos, pp. 67-68. 45 Mehsh, I, 44. 



FAMOUS CONTROVERSIES 287 

comparative merit in the highest degree wearisome. Ke- 
deemed, in some instances, by piquant anecdote, interesting 
adventure, or some grace of style or originality of view, 
they are, for the most part, shallow, egotistical, and more 
or less repetitions of each other." ^^ 

The last two of these accounts we have still to consider; 
the works of Captain Basil Hall and of Mrs. Trollope. To 
Americans of that time these two books were the best 
known of all the English travel literature, and they exerted 
the most influence. Captain Hall came to America in 1827 ; 
part of his stay was spent in Canada ; during the remainder 
of the period he travelled extensively through the United 
States, from New England south to Georgia and up the 
Mississippi. He had been a traveller all his life, having 
entered the Royal Navy in his fourteenth year ; he therefore 
considered himself competent to judge American institu- 
tions and to speak dogmatically of what he saw. ''In for- 
mer days," he says, ''I confess I was not very well dis- 
posed to the Americans ; a feeling shared with all my com- 
panions on board, and probably also with most of my su- 
periors. But as the duties of a varied service in after 
years threw me far from the source at w^hich these national 
antipathies had been imbibed, they appeared gradually to 
dissipate themselves, in proportion as my acquaintance with 
other countries was extended, and I had learned to think 
better of mankind in general. My next anxiety naturally 
was to persuade others that there really were no just 
grounds for the mutual hostility so manifestly existing be- 
tween America and England. 

''Probably therefore, there seldom was a traveller who 
visited a foreign land in a more kindly spirit. I was really 

46 Henry Tuckerman, "America and Her Commentators," pp. 219- 
220. 



288 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

desirous of seeing everything relating to the people, coun- 
try, and institutions, in the most favorable light. ' ' *^ 

Though the captain came to this country in such a pro- 
fessedly kindly mood, his book had the effect of arousing a 
storm of angry feelings in the Americans. Travellers who 
passed through the country after his visit complained that 
hospitality was withheld from them because of the feeling 
this work had aroused. ' ' The mistress and boarders of the 
house where we first resided, ' ' says one traveller, ' ' informed 
us that the publication of Captain Hall's Travels had shut 
the entrance against any future reception of English gen- 
tlemen into American society. 'No Englishman will here- 
after, ' said they, ' be caressed in the States, ' I did not find 
this to be absolutely true, yet I have no doubt it is accurate 
to a great extent." ^* It seemed the prevailing idea among 
Americans that Hall had been sent by the Tory govern- 
ment of England 'Ho depreciate republican institutions, 
and to repress the growing spirit of freedom at home. ' ' *^ 
Two notable American protests followed the publication of 
the work. One was an account of the book in The North 
American Revimu; the other an anonymous refutation pub- 
lished in 1830, and later proved to be by Richard Biddle.^'' 
In the review, the character of the captain was chiefly em- 
phasized. This he himself had revealed by his ungracious 
acceptance of favors, and his carping criticism of American 
hospitality. He travelled with a wife and child, besides 
servants, and he admitted that the party sometimes gave 
their hosts a great deal of trouble, and that his temper 
under difficulties compared most unfavorably with that of 

47 Hall, B., I, 3-4. 

48 Fidler, p. 84; also Tudor, II, 55. 
49Boardman, p. 255; Mrs. Trollope, II, 219. 

50 North American Review, XXIX, 522 flf.; "Captain Hall in Amer- 
ica, by an American" [Richard Biddle] 1830. 



FAMOUS CONTROVERSIES 289 

the Americans at those times.^^ He seemed to be unable to 
remain silent whenever he saw anji;hing to criticise, and it 
is evident that he was a thorn in the flesh to everyone with 
whom he came in contact. The review concluded: *'We 
repeat, we have been actuated by no ill-wdll towards the 
traveller, but we appeal to the impartial reader that we 
have shown him to be in possession of prejudices under 
which he could not, and to have committed errors which 
prove he did not, see the country as it is. His w^ork will do 
considerable mischief, not in America, but in England. It 
will furnish food to the appetite for detraction, which 
reigns there toward this country. It will put a word in 
the mouths of those who vilify because they hate, and hate 
because they fear us. ' ^ ^^ 

The anonymous *' Captain Hall in America" did not dis- 
miss the case as purely one of bad temper, though that 
trait was dwelt on as well. There were much more serious 
faults to be attacked. The Englishman had criticised the 
American government and the judiciary, comparing them 
unfavorably with the English institutions, of which, Biddle 
showed, he knew nothing. ^^ The same was to be said of his 
discussion of primogeniture. His statements in regard to 
the several state governments were incorrect, or at best, 
half-truths. His disingenuous air in his remarks on slavery 
was exactly of the sort that would produce a wrong impres- 
sion of that institution in England.^* ''As to the state of 
Manners in the United States, the tourist has confined him- 
self to certain dark and seemingly very ominous hints, to 

which it is, of course, quite impossible to offer any re- 
ply, "^s 

51 See, for instance, Hall, B., I, 15, II, 184-185. 

52 North American Review, XXIX, 574. See on this book, Quarterly 
Review, XLI, 417-447; Blackwood's Magazine, XXXIV, 288. 

53 Biddle, p. 19 ff. 54 Ibid., p. 54. 55 ibid., p. 61. 



290 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

Coke says, speaking of Captain Hall and Mrs. Trollope, 
that never were two authors so abused as these two; that 
every newspaper teemed with violent remarks and per- 
sonalities, which were substituted for refutation. He 
also quotes from Paulding's novel, ''Westward Ho," an 
American conversation in which Captain Hall is held up to 
ridicule.^^ Mrs. Trollope devoted an entire chapter to the 
defence of Hall in illustration of the extreme sensitiveness 
of the Americans. ''Of this, perhaps," she says, "the most 
remarkable example I can give, is the effect produced on 
nearly every class of readers by the appearance of Captain 
Basil Hall's 'Travels in America.' In fact, it was a sort 
of moral earthquake, and the vibration it occasioned through 
the nerves of the Republic, from one corner of the Union to 
the other, was by no means over when I left the country in 
July, 1831, a couple of years after the shock . . . the in- 
ternal conviction on my mind is strong, that if Captain 
Hall had not placed a firm restraint on himself, he must 
have given expression to far deeper indignation than any 
he has uttered against many points in the American char- 
acter, with which he shows, from other circumstances, that 
he was well acquainted. His rule appears to have been to 
state just so much of the truth as would leave on the minds 
of his readers a correct impression, at the cost of pain to 
the sensitive folks he was writing about. ' ' ^^ 

But even Captain Hall's book sank into comparative 
insignificance beside the work from which this quotation 
was taken; namely, Mrs. Trollope 's "Domestic Manners of 
the Americans," which was published in 1831 and ran 
through several editions immediately. Obadiah Rich re- 
marked in his "Bibliotheca Americana Nova," in 1832, that 
it was not much to the credit of the taste of the British 

56 Coke, I, 149. 

5T Mrs. Trollope, II, 216, 223-224. 



FAMOUS CONTROVERSIES 291 

public that the malicious effusions of a disappointed old 
woman should pass through three editions in about three 
months.^^ Mrs. Trollope had come to America with her hus- 
band in 1829, and had set up a small fancy-goods store or 
bazaar in Cincinnati in a building which she had had 
erected, and which Murray later described as the most ''ab- 
surd, ugly and ridiculous building in the town. ' ' ^^ The 
venture did not prove a success, and after a stay of three 
years, Mrs. Trollope returned to England very much at 
odds with America. Her book, the result of her observa- 
tions, is full of personal feeling. An English traveller, 
staying in New York at the time of its appearance, tells of 
the demand for it. "The Tariff and Bank Bill were alike 
forgotten, and the tug of war was hard, whether the 
'Domestic Manners' or the cholera, which burst upon them 
simultaneously, should be the more engrossing topic of con- 
versation. At every corner of the street, at the door of 
every petty retailer of information for the people, a large 
placard met the eye, with, 'For sale here, with plates, 
Domestic Manners of the Americans, by Mrs. Trollope.* 
At every table d'hote, on board of every steamboat, in 
every stage coach, and in all societies, the first question 
was, 'Have you read Mrs. Trollope?' And one-half of the 
people would be seen with a red or blue half -bound volume 
in their hand, which you might vouch for being the odious 
work, and the more it was abused, the more rapidly did the 
printers issue new editions. ' ' ^^ We are told that a great 
many Americans believed that Captain Hall and Mrs. Trol- 

58 Rich, "Bibliotheca Americana Nova," II, 240. In regard to this 
book, see Blacktcood's Magazine, XXXI, 829-847; Edinburgh Remeic, 
LV, 487; also Asa Greene's "Travels in America" by Geo. Fibbleton, 
Esq. (a satire). 

59 Murray, I, 147-148. See also Hamilton, II, 171. 

60 Coke, I, 148-149 (also note). 



292 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

lope were one and the same person, or that Hall had writ- 
ten the book from Mrs. Trollope's notes. 

As may be imagined, the publication of the work was 
the signal for the beginning of a literary battle. The 
Edinburgh Review ridiculed the book generally ;*^^ Black- 
wood's qualified its praise of the truth of delineation shown 
by the author by saying that it was ''very palpably var- 
nished and exaggerated for the purpose of impression. ' ' ^^ 
The Quarterly, however, published a glowing eulogy : ' ' This 
is exactly the title page we have long wished to see, and 
we rejoice to say that, now the subject has taken up, it is 
handled by an English lady of sense and acuteness, who 
possesses very considerable power of expression and enjoyed 
unusually favorable opportunities for observation." Ap- 
parently, it was a book much needed, when ' ' so much trash 
and falsehood pass current concerning the West." Many 
excerpts from the work are included in the review, all of 
which are characterized as ''clever," "lively and amus- 
ing, ' ' ^^ etc. As a matter of fact, Mrs. Trollope visited only 
a small portion of the country, she did not mingle with the 
higher social ranks of people, and she judged simply from 
what she saw. It is interesting to note the attitude of sub- 
sequent English travellers toward this work. Most of them 
believed it would do some good ; in fact, actual results were 
already to be seen, as in the experience before narrated, of 
Coke and Shirreff in the theatres.^* All, however, did not 
believe that the book had gone about the work of reforma- 
tion in the best way. Shirreff remarked : ' ' The clever, and 
to some people, amusing work of Mrs. Trollope will have 
different effects from what its admirers in Britain contem- 

&^ Edinburgh Review, LV, 479 flf. 

62 Black wooer s Magazine, XXXI, 829 ff. 

63 Quarterly Revieio, XXVII, 39 flf. 

64 See Coke, I, 153-154; Shirreflf, p. 9. 



FAMOUS CONTROVERSIES 293 

plate. The many sketches of low and incidental character 
which the book contains, and given as belonging to the peo- 
ple generally, wounded the feelings of the inhabitants of the 
United States. . . . From much I saw and heard, the keen 
satire of this authoress is likely to produce in a few years, 
the usual improvement of a century ; on the other hand, her 
caricatures of manners and institutions fostered the preju- 
dices of many of the inhabitants of Britain, and engendered 
dislike to political changes taking place in that country . . . 
the popularity of Mrs. Trollope's book may be regarded as 
evidence of want of discernment, if not of vitiated religious 
and moral feeling in a portion of the reading population of 
Britain." James Stuart attacked Mrs. Trollope bitterly, 
and showed, in several particulars, how different had been 
his experience, and how little the Englishwoman had under 
stood and appreciated America.^^ Tudor devoted an entire 
chapter to refuting some of her statements regarding the 
manners, religion, and standards of morality in the United 
States.^^ Ouseley says in regard to her representation of 
religion, that it would be as fair to judge the church sys- 
tem of England * ' by the proceedings of a meeting of Jump- 
ers or Ranters in some remote village, or by the hallucina- 
tions of the followers of Johanna Southcote " as to general- 
ize the religious state of America by her account.*^^ Her 
son, Anthony Trollope, admits that no observer was less 
qualified to judge of the prospects, or even of the happiness 
of a young people. ''If a thing was lovely in her eyes, it 
ought to be lovely to all eyes, — and if ugly, it must be 
bad. . . . The Americans were to her rough, uncouth, and 
vulgar, and she told them so. ' ' ^^ 

65 Stuart, II, 281 ff, 305. 

66 Tudor, II, 390 S. 

67 Ouseley, p. 12 (note). 

68 See Trollope, A., "Autobiography," Chap. II. 



294 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

The North American Review published a long discussion 
of this work, and refuted many of its statements.*^^ The 
remarks about American grammar, American prudery, and 
fanaticism in religion were shown to be false, and based on 
insufficient evidence. Mrs. Trollope was one of the many 
travellers who brought against the Americans the charge 
of extreme sensitiveness to criticism. This the North Amer- 
ican reviewer thought it well to answer. The periodical, 
he said, had made a study of this trait for fifteen years. 
''We aver upon our consciences, that we do not remember 
an occasion on which a good-natured joke from any quarter, 
on any part of America has been taken amiss." 

Before we are tempted, like Mr. Tuckerman, to find the 
analysis of these quarrels too wearisome, we must consider 
another controversy, more limited in its scope, but as bitter 
in spirit, namely the one that concerned the so-called Eng- 
lish Prairie in the south-eastern part of the state of Illinois. 
The experiment which was there worked out became the 
center of the discussion on emigration to America after the 
peace of 1815. The settlement was founded by Morris 
Birkbeck and George Flower, both of whom were English- 
men of considerable wealth and influence, who became dis- 
satisfied with conditions at home, and conceived the scheme 
of transplanting large numbers of their countrymen into 
the new land. The controversy grew out of the popularity 
of the settlement in spite of the efforts of detractors to 
kill it. In 1817 and 1818, Birkbeck published two books on 
the venture, ''Notes on a Journey in America" and "Let- 
ters from Illinois." In the preface to the former, the 
author spoke of the hopeful future : ' ' There are advantages 
before us greater than I had in contemplation, and ap- 
parently attainable with less difficulty and sacrifice. I 
have, therefore, nothing to regret in the step I have taken, 
69 See :S^orth American Review, XXXVI, p. 1 flf. 



FAMOUS CONTROVERSIES 295 

and in my present knowledge, I should find stronger mo- 
tives for it. ' ' He set forth candidly the plans that he and 
Flower had made, to purchase from the government one or 
more entire townships, part prairie and part woodland, 
which would be offered to Englishmen on the most favor- 
able terms possible. *'To obviate the sufferings to which 
emigrants . . . are exposed on their arrival, it is a material 
part of our plan to have in readiness for every poor family, 
a cabin, an inclosed garden, a cow, and a hog, with an ap- 
propriation of land for summer and winter food for cows, 
proportioned to their number. ' ' ^^ The members of the 
community were to be bound by no ties except mutual in- 
terest, and to be subject to no law, except the law of the 
land. In his second book, Birkbeck took up the discussion 
of the details of the settlement, its limitations and its ad- 
vantages, answered numerous questions that had come to 
him, and gave much gratuitous information in regard to 
the manners and character of the inhabitants. 

It was inevitable that Birkbeck should be bitterly opposed 
by certain classes of people in England. The Quarterly, in 
reviewing his ''Notes on a Journey in America," made the 
following scathing remark : ' ' Whatever ' New America ' may 
have gained by the name of Birkbeck having ceased to be 
found in the list of the citizens of Old England, the latter 
has no reason to regret the loss. Many more of the same 
stamp may well be spared to wage war with the bears and 
red Indians of the 'back woods' of America." ^^ 

The chief American opponent of the new settlement was 
William Cobbett, the noted Eadical, ' ' self-exiled from Eng- 
land to avoid prosecution for libel and consequent fines. ' ' ''^ 
Cobbett seems to have wished to confine all experiments in 

70 Birkbeck, "Notes on a Journey," p. 160 ff. 

71 Quarterly Review, XIX, 78. 

72 See Thwaites, "Early Western Travels," X, 11. 



296 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

emigration to the land along the Atlantic coast. In part 
of his book, ''A Year's Residence in America" (1818), he 
made an attack on the English Prairie, basing his facts 
ostensibly on the ''Journal" of Thomas Hulme, one of his 
followers. The latter, it is well to say, was a conscientious 
observer, and intended to write nothing against the Western 
settlement, but Cobbett distorted his statements to give a 
derogatory account, and affixed a letter of Birkbeck which 
urged the advantages of the East over the West, as a place 
of settlement. These remarks were answered in turn by 
Birkbeck and by Richard Flower (father of George Flower), 
who wrote "Letters from Lexington and the Illinois, Con- 
taining a Brief Account of the English Settlement in the 
Latter Territory, and a Refutation of the Misrepresenta- 
tions of Mr. Corbett" (1819). This honest, straightfor- 
ward account set forth the difficulties of the new venture, 
extenuating nothing, but showing the promise of the future. 
One of Cobbett 's chief strictures had been on the point of 
the inferior healthfulness of the West, a matter to which 
Flower gave a great deal of care and discussion. 

It is impossible to go into all the controversial literature 
which grew out of this experiment. Faux took a part in 
the quarrel with his characteristic vigor and disregard for 
truth. He showed what a disappointment the colony had 
proved, how difficult the land was to cultivate, how the peo- 
ple suffered from lack of water, and how progress was re- 
tarded by lack of a market for produce. He maintained 
that Birkbeck was already declining the responsibility of 
advising people to emigrate, and that Flower was saying, 
"Tell your countrymen to stay at home by all means, if 
they can keep their comforts."" Fearon, too, affixed to 
his "Sketches of America" an examination of Birkbeck 's 
works on the English Prairie, and tried to prove that on 
73 Faux, p. 191 fiF, 252 fif. 



FAMOUS CONTROVERSIES 297 

many points the author was evading the truth. *'I have 
been thus free with Mr. Birkbeck's 'Letters,' " said he, in 
conclusion, ' ' because I have seen the effects which they have 
produced upon your minds, and I believe that effect to be 
an improper one. This has arisen, I apprehend, more from 
the mode in which the information is conveyed than from 
the information itself, for it appears to me that through- 
out the work, there are those admissions which no colouring 
ought to prevent the mind of the reader from viewing as 
most serious considerations connected with an Illinois set- 
tlement."^* 

The question was settled only by the actual fact of the 
growth of the settlement, and its prosperity. Echoes of 
the trouble were heard from time to time, but the colony 
flourished in spite of them. The service that these English 
settlers rendered to the country is well summed up by 
Thwaites: ''When a new constitution for the state was 
agitated, one that should admit slavery to its borders, it was 
the sturdy opposition of the English leaders that turned the 
scale in favor of freedom. . . . Largely to English devo- 
tion to free institutions, it was due that the attempt to 
foist 'the peculiar institution' upon the new West failed, 
and the state which was to shelter and train Abraham Lin- 
coln was made a free land." ^^ 

Even today, as we read through the history of these old 
quarrels, we find the numerous criticisms of the new repub- 
lic irritating. The frequent repetition, the astonishment at 
facts that should have been taken for granted, the lack of 
a broad outlook on life, and of a real understanding of the 
institutions observed, — all of these failings on the part of 
the average English traveller arouse our ire and make us 

74Fearon, p. 391 ff. 

75 Thwaites, "Early Western Travels," X, 14-15; see also for the 
English Prairie, Welby, p. 248 f£; Woods, J., p. 179 ff. 



298 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

wonder that there was not more recrimination when the 
criticisms were published. Misunderstandings and verbal 
encounters are not pleasant at best. It is with a strong 
sense of relief that we read a statement like the following, 
in The Quarterly of September, 1835: "Let us hear no 
more then, — at least, let us hear nothing in harsh, con- 
temptuous, or arrogant language about the petty circum- 
stances which may happen to strike an English eye — as 
offensively characteristic of the people of America in their 
interior domestic intercourse among themselves." ^^ "When 
our chief antagonist calls a truce, it is a promising omen for 
the future. 

76 Quarterly Review, LIV, p. 408. 



CHAPTER XI 
CHARACTER 

The American character was considered by most visitors 
to be something distinct, and belonging peculiarly to the 
country. One who reads through the English travels in 
the United States is impressed with the fact that so much 
emphasis was laid on the effects of separation from the 
Old World, and the difficulties of life in the New. The 
Quarterly, in a review of Paulding's *'Lay of the Scottish 
Fiddle" set forth America's limitations in no very kindly 
terms : ^ ' In a nation, ' ' said the reviewer, ' ' derived from so 
many fathers, it has justly been a matter of wonder that 
there should hitherto have existed so tame a uniformity 
and that the composition of such various elements should 
produce the merest monotony of character the world has 
yet seen. It is not our business to trace why the thought- 
fully dissolute, and turbulent of all nations, should, in com- 
mingling, so neutralize one another that the result should 
be a people without wit or fancy. "We will only observe 
that when the vulgar and illiterate lose the force of their 
animal spirits, they become mere clods, and that the found- 
ers of American society brought to the composition of their 
nation few seeds of good taste, and no rudiments of liberal 
science."^ J 

On the other hand, the diversity of character met with 
on a long journey through America could not be ignored. 
It was to be expected in a land of such latitude and longi- 

1 Quarterly Review, X, 463 flf. 

299 



300 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

tude, and made generalizations in regard to one part of the 
country inapplicable to the rest. Latrobe, at the very end 
of this period, maintained that the people of America could 
not be said to have a national character; in fact, they 
could never unite sufficiently to acquire one. ''It is even 
to be doubted whether they vrill ever amalgamate suffi- 
ciently, under the great difference of temperament, style of 
life, and habits consequent upon such diverse climates alone, 
to admit of one picture, however broadly sketched, being in 
every particular characteristic of the whole. . . . Turn to 
whichever part of the Union you may, manners perfectly 
distinct from each other, traceable to the stock from which 
the individual sprang, in person, dwellings, prejudices, pre- 
possessions and modes of expression, are distinguishable." ^ 
One might as well try to include all the countries of Europe 
in one general description, it was said, as to attempt to 
characterize the United States.^ Hence there grew up a 
tradition, stimulated by the opinions that prevailed among 
the Americans themselves, that North, South, and West, 
particularly, had developed a distinct character. Blane 
expresses what many Americans and Englishmen firmly be- 
lieved in regard to the differences between the North and 
the South: ''Thus the White inhabitants of the Southern 
and slave-holding States are high-spirited, fiery, and impet- 
uous, with difficulty restraining their passions, and possess- 
ing all those characteristics (many of them very odious) 
that mark the slave-holder. In those States, no one deigns 
to work, and the gentry, or wealthy planters, occupy their 
time in sporting, and particularly in horse-racing and cock- 
fighting. They also indulge in the pleasures of the table 
much more than their Northern fellow-citizens . . . the in- 
habitants of the free States are not only much less im- 

2 Latrobe, I, 59-60. 

3Welby, p. 170; Flint, pp. 171-172; Hodgson, II, 248. 



CHARACTER 301 

petuous, and much more cautious than the Southerners, but 
are also superior to them in morality, and perhaps even in 
politeness and urbanity of manners. " * It was this belief 
in the disparities of American character that helped to give 
the Ohio River the reputation for being ''the greatest thor- 
oughfare of bandits in the Union," that pictured the in- 
habitants of the West generally, as a lawless, fighting, 
*' gouging" population, and the people of New England as 
shrewd, cautious, and not too honest.^ 

As it is impossible to analyze any phase of American life 
without bringing out the nature of the people as well, it is 
to be hoped that much of the character of the nation has 
already been revealed in this discussion. It remains to 
stress certain dominant traits which Englishmen most fre- 
quently noticed, or believed that they saw. Concerning one 
of these, we may be allowed some repetition, particularly as 
it had a close connection with another important character- 
istic. This was the acute sensitiveness to opinion that the 
average American revealed.® It was said that fear of opin- 
ion kept people from taking office or from assuming other 
public responsibilities; travellers remarked that Southern- 
ers particularly plunged heavily into extravagance to es- 
cape the imputation of poverty, and that all over the 
Union, men preferred to risk death in a duel to bringing 
upon themselves the suspicion of cowardice. Englishmen 
found that it was fatal to utter even the most harmless 
critical remark about any part of the country; that the 
quarrel of one division of the nation was the quarrel of 
all. ' ' To see a gentleman of Boston or Baltimore resenting 

4Blane, pp. 501-502. 

5 See, on local diflFerences, Hall, F., p. 266 ff; Martineau, II, 158; 
Flint, p. 167; Candler, p. 451; Woods, p. 317; Alexander, II, 58-59. 

6 On sensitiveness, see Martineau, II, 156; Hodgson, II, 39; La- 
trobe, I, 61. 



302 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

by word and deed the sketch published to the world of the 
society of a district of the West, borders on the ludicrous/* 
said a traveller, ''the more so as, if untravelled, they are 
frequently as ignorant of the real state of things there, as 
a stay-at-home Englishman might be supposed to be. . . . 
This weakness almost amounts to a national disease. ' ' '' 
Tudor tells of having wounded the feelings of a young 
American woman by commenting critically on the carriage 
of some raw recruits at drill. ' ' I was reproached, ' ' says the 
dismayed Englishman, ''with the injustice I had done to 
her countrymen; and it required the lapse of some hours 
before her wonted complacency and kindness of temper 
returned. ' ' ® Even writers kindly disposed to the United 
States in other respects, sided with Captain Hall and Mrs. 
Trollope in their criticism of this trait, of which their books 
were full. It is amusing to us to notice that Captain Hall 
attributes to this sensitiveness the fact that he was not able 
to write freely concerning the American people. 

This general fault was closely connected with another, or 
was perhaps the result of it — namely, the national vanity. 
Charitable travellers attributed this to the successful strug- 
gle for independence and to the republican institutions.® 
Strangers, it was complained, were not only obliged to 
tolerate conditions, but to praise them as well. Americans 
were not content to hear their country spoken of respect- 
fully; it must be admitted as almost beyond any improve- 
ment. The accusation of vanity is too nearly universal to 
be dismissed as resulting from prejudice. Candler, whose 
"Summary View of America" was praised on both sides of 
the Atlantic for its justice and fair-mindedness, makes this 
one of the few points for adverse criticism. He tells of one 

7Latrobe, I, 61. 

8 Tudor, II, 423 flf.; Hall, B., I, 14; Mrs. Trollope, II, 218. 

» Candler, p. 106. 



CHARACTER 303 

or two encounters he has had with the national trait: 
'* Having had a long conversation with a naval officer on 
different subjects, he asked my opinion of the country. I 
spoke strongly in its favor, and assured him, that next to 
my own, it stood first in my regard, at the same time point- 
ing out several things that I disapproved. I had not the 
remotest idea that I should, in consequence, be condemned 
for a want of candour, for controversy we had none, and 
w^ere both in good humour and apparent harmony; and 
yet a few days after, I w^as told by another person that this 
officer had reported that I was going as a spy through the 
land, and intended, on my return home, to vilify it like 
other English travellers. As I was in a stage coach, the 
conversation turned on the improvements going on, and the 
Erie Canal was adverted to. One of the passengers de- 
scribed it as the wonder of the world, as the glory of the 
age. I remarked that it certainly was a great and useful 
work, and manifested conspicuously the spirit and enter- 
prise of the people, but that I could not think such strong 
language as he used, was altogether applicable to it. Some 
hours after, another passenger asked me what State I was a 
native of. I told him that I was an Englishman. * I thought 
so, ' said the first, * from your remarks on the canal : you did 
not speak of it like an American. ' . . . A gentleman who 
also spoke of the canal, told me, that taking the circum- 
stances of the people into consideration, it was equal to the 
Pyramids of Egypt, or the wall of China." ^° Tudor came 
into collision with this trait in his very first conversation 
with a native American. Everjrthing that the Englishman 
mentioned in regard to his own country, the American at- 
tributed to his, to a hundred-fold degree of superiority; 
even the English colonies did not escape, for though the 
American had to admit that his country had none, he de- 
10 Candler, pp. 120-123, 476. 



304 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

clared that it would very soon possess them more exten- 
sively than did England.^^ One cannot help feeling that 
Englishmen were charitable when they said mildly that 
American patriotism was ''warm but not properly moder- 
ated with reflection," on being asked if there was any 
building in Europe equal to the Capitol at Washington, and 
whether London or Paris possessed any houses as good as 
those in New York or Philadelphia. "The national vanity 
of the United States, ' ' said Bristed, ' ' surpasses that of any 
other country, not even excepting France. It blazes out 
everywhere and on all occasions, — in their conversation, 
newspapers, pamphlets, speeches and books. They assume 
it as a self-evident fact, that the Americans surpass all 
other nations in virtue, wisdom, valour, liberty, govern- 
ment and every other excellence. All Europeans they pro- 
fess to despise as ignorant paupers and dastardly slaves. 
Even during President Washington's administration. Con- 
gress debated three days upon the important position that 
'America was the most enlightened nation on earth' and 
finally decided the affirmative by a small majority." ^^ 

One of the most vulnerable points of attack was the ques- 
tion of the conduct of the wars with Great Britain. The 
Americans found it hard to believe that the English did not 
take the same absorbing interest in those wars as they them- 
selves did, and more than one Englishman was accused of 
being bigoted when he said so. One traveller even went to 
the length of advising Englishmen to read up well on the 
wars before coming to America, in order to avoid an em- 
barrassing exposure of ignorance. American books on the 
subject betrayed this type of vanity. Englishmen objected 
to having themselves represented as cowards, while the 

11 Tudor, I, 85; also Fidler, p. 80; Murray, II, 219 fif. 

12 Bristed, pp. 460-461; see also Moore, T., "Epistle to Hon. W. R. 
Spencer" in "Poems Relating to America." 



CHARACTER 305 

Americans figured throughout as heroes of the occasion; 
they protested that skirmishes were promoted to the rank 
of battles, and were compared to the conflicts of Marathon 
and Trafalgar.^^ 

It is encouraging to read that some of the observers 
limited the aggressive display of vanity to the less-educated 
classes, absolving the more enlightened. James Flint says 
that the trait met with more reprobation from the educated 
American than from the average Englishman.^* Several 
travellers, too, believed that the ardent patriotism of the 
United States was quite natural, and was something to be 
admired. * ' I am very far from viewing it as a heinous of- 
fense," Latrobe tells us, *'or as deserving the animadver- 
sions which have been so generally bestowed upon it. In 
truth, I know not any nation that has ever been distin- 
guished in history, where this has not been a national char- 
acteristic; and certainly it has never been carried to a 
greater height than in Britain. ... If I were an Ameri- 
can, I confess I should be proud of my country, proud of 
its commercial enterprise, — proud of its gigantic resources, 
— of its magnificent rivers, and forests, and scenery — still 
more proud should I be of its widely diffused education and 
independence, and the imperishable memory of its heroic 
father and founder !"^^ Hodgson, too, believed that the 
Americans had an excuse for their vanity, and that they 
must be more than mortal not to boast, so great was the 
promise for the future.^® 

The spread of this defect was traced to the inflated lan- 
guage of the native newspapers, and to the influence o^ 
American orators. Abdy quotes from a speech of Martin 

13 Candler, pp. 478-479; Blane, p. 503. 

14 Flint, pp. 167-168; Hodgson, II, 31. 

15 Latrobe, I, 219-220. 

16 Hodgson, II, 32; also Melish, I, 44. 



306 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

Van Buren at the New York Convention to illustrate this. 
Mr. Van Buren declared that it was ''the boast and the 
pride and the security of the American nation, that she had 
in her bosom a body of men who for sobriety, integrity, in- 
dustry and patriotism, were unequalled by the cultivators 
of the earth in any part of the known world ; nay more, to 
compare them with men of similar pursuits in other coun- 
tries, was to degrade them." ^^ Bristed says that President 
Monroe, in his tour through the Union, told the people of 
Kennebunk, Maine, that the United States was certainly 
the most enlightened nation in the world.^^ 

Another result of this feeling of national superiority was 
the self-confidence and independence which were noticed in 
all classes and ages of people. This passed the bounds of 
moderation and became a fault. It has already been seen 
that the independent manners of the laboring classes met 
with little sympathy from the English traveller. The wor- 
ship of equality was seen to produce contempt for any as- 
sumption of superiority, whether of wealth, family connec- 
tion, or intelligence. Even differences in political opinions, 
it was observed, never seemed to operate as a cause of sepa- 
ration.^^ Weld complained that on account of this equality 
of all classes, civility could not be purchased from the 
Americans on any terms ; that there seemed to them to be 
no other way of convincing the stranger that he was in the 
land of liberty but by being surly and ill-mannered in his 
presence.2° Cobbett argued just the opposite: **No man 
likes to be treated with disrespect ; and when he finds that 
he can obtain respect only by treating others with respect, 

17 See Abdy, II, 277-278; Fearon, p. 374; Hodgson, II, 31. 

18 Bristed, p. 461. 

19 Bristed, p. 460; Mrs. Trollope, II, 159; Cobbett, 205; Flint, 
p. 292; Tudor, I, 82. 

20 See Weld, I, 30. 



CHARACTER 307 

he will use that only means. When he finds that neither 
haughtiness nor wealth will bring him a civil word, he be- 
comes civil himself, and I repeat it again and again, this is 
a country ot universal civility/' ^^ In spite of this glowing 
tribute, travellers continued to take offense at the frequency 
of the expressions ' ' This is a free country ' ' and ' ' One man 
is as good as another." 

This assiduity in maintaining the equality of all men 
seemed the more amusing to the Englishman in view of the 
undeniable fondness for titles of all kinds.^^ The Honor- 
able Charles Augustus Murray tells of being called ' ' Char- 
lie" by his American host on the very evening of his arrival, 
though, as he says, *'the curious observer of character , . , 
may find . . . the small tavern where he lodges kept by a 
general, the broken wheel of his waggon mended by a 
colonel, and the day-labourers and mechanics speaking of 
one another as Hhis gentleman' and 'that gentleman.' " 
The multiplicity of titles is of course to be largely accounted 
for by the institution of the state militia; a title thus ac- 
quired was never dropped, though the term of service may 
have been very brief. Vigne tells an anecdote, of a time- 
worn type, in regard to this. He narrates the story of the 
captain of an American steamboat who asked at dinner, 
** General, a little fish?" and was answered in the affirma- 
tive by twenty-five of the thirty men present. If an Ameri- 
can became a magistrate or justice of the peace, he acquired 
the title of *' Squire," which he kept for the rest of his 
life, * * even when dismissed for misconduct, ' ' says the aston- 
ished James Flint. Another title that amused Englishmen 

2iCobbett, p. 205, See also Fearon, p. 375; Dalton, pp. 18-19; 
Flint, pp. 168-169. 

22 For fondness for titles, see Murray, I, 92 ; Weld, I, 236-237 ; 
Flint, pp. 169-170; Vigne, I, 170-171; Hamilton, I, 237; Neilson, 
pp. 230-233. 



308 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

was that of ''Captain," as applied to the persons in charge 
of keel boats. ''Except where such names as those just 
alluded to, are applied," Flint says, "Mr. is the epithet of 
every man; the wife is of course Mrs., the daughter and 
maid servant are indiscriminately saluted Miss or Madam. 
All are ladies. . . . I do not wish to be understood as 
approving of giving an appellation to one man and with- 
holding it from another, but would only observe that, where 
all are Mr., Mrs., and Miss, these terms do not imply a 
distinctive mark, and that the simple Christian names would 
be more discriminately useful in the affairs of life, if not 
almost as respectable. ' ' 

In some respects, this air of independence and self-con- 
fidence was rather admirable than otherwise. ' ' Nothing has 
hitherto struck us more forcibly," said Dalton, "than a cer- 
tain apparent independence which every American carries 
about with him. It does not seem to be derived so much 
from mere assurance, as from the idea, that every citizen 
is upon terms of equality with his fellows and equally 
eligible to any office of trust or emolument." ^^ This feel- 
ing extended even to the backwoodsmen, of whom a travel- 
ler says : ' ' They are a most determined set of republicans, 
well versed in politics, and thoroughly independent. A man 
who has only half a shirt, and without shoes and stockings, 
is as independent as the first man in the States, and inter- 
ests himself in the choice of men to serve his country as 
much as the highest man in it, and often from as pure mo- 
tives, — the general good, without any private views of his 
own. ' ' ^* Even Faux became eloquent at the contemplation 
of American independence: "The American walks abroad 
in the majesty of freedom; if he be innocent, he shrinks 
not from the gaze of upstart and insignificant wealth ; nor 
sinks beneath the oppression of his fellowman. Conscious 

23 Dalton, p. 62. 24 Woods, p. 317. 



CHARACTER 309 

of his rights and of the security he enjoys, by the liberal in- 
stitutions of his country, independence beams in his eye, 
and humanity glows in his heart. Has he done wrong ? He 
knows the limit of his punishment and the character of his 
judges. Is he innocent ? He knows that no power on earth 
can crush him. What a condition is this compared with 
that of the subjects of almost all the European nations!" ^' 
At this period, the Americans already had the reputation 
for being a money-loving and a money-getting people.^^ So 
universal was this belief that it is with surprise that we 
see any denial of it. Cobbett was one of the very few who 
ventured a defence. ' ' That anxious eagerness to get on ; " 
he says, ''which is seldom unaccompanied with some degree 
of envy of more successful neighbors, and which has its 
foundation, first in a dread of future want, and next in a 
desire to obtain distinction by means of wealth ; this anxious 
eagerness so unamiable in itself, and so unpleasant an in- 
mate of the breast, so great a sourer of the temper, is a 
stranger to America where accidents and losses which 
would drive an Englishman half mad produce but very 
little agitation." It is true that the enterprise of the 
Americans could not be charitably attributed to a dread of 
future want, nor did it seem to most Englishmen that they 
were consciously actuated by a ' ' desire to obtain distinction 
by means of wealth," — their attitude toward gain was 
quite different from either of these. Perhaps it grew out 
of the abundance of resources, and the certainty of a com- 
petence with a relatively small amount of labor. Flint said 
it was the security of property and the high profits on capi- 
tal that tended to promote this disposition. Fowler at- 
tributed the eagerness to accumulate to the fact that in the 

25 Faux, pp. 27-28; also Fowler, p. 212. 

26 For love of money, see Cobbett, p. 205; Fowler, p. 212; Flint, 
p. 170. 



310 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

absence of titles and all acknowledged distinctions in rank, 
wealth constituted the primary basis of contrast between in- 
dividuals. At any rate, this trait became to foreigners an 
integral part of the American nature. ''There are two 
features in the American character,'^ remarked Abdy, 
' ' that few strangers fail to observe. . . . The Americans 
are too anxious to make money, and they spoil their chil- 
dren. ' ' 2^ Birkbeck said that the chief consideration of 
the Americans in founding towns seemed to be gain, and 
that this fact led to much bad calculation, as they often 
omitted the "important consideration of salubrity in their 
choice of a situation.^^ Mrs. Trollope said that an English- 
man, of long residence in America, told her that he had 
never overheard Americans conversing without the word 
''dollar" being pronounced between them. "Such unity 
of purpose," adds Mrs. Trollope, characteristically, "such 
sympathy of feeling, can, I believe, be found nowhere else 
except, perhaps, in an ants' nest."^^ 

This desire for getting on was not confined to the accu- 
mulating of money. Visitors remarked that there was a 
certain economy which pervaded many American institu- 
tions — economy of time, for instance. It was a saving of 
time to import books rather than to write them; a fact to 
which Englishmen ascribed much of the poverty of native 
literature.^*^ A certain parsimony was characteristic of the 
Americans in ventures the result of which could not be im- 
mediately seen ; one recognizes traces of it in their policies 
for promoting education, and their neglect of roads in anti- 
cipation of the coming railroad. This economy was 
strangely at variance with a practice of which Americans 

27 Abdy, I, 70-71. 

28 Birkbeck, "Notes on a Journey," p. 69. 

29 Mrs. Trollope, II, 136-137. 

30 See Hall, F., p. 177. 



CHARACTER 311 

were accused by many travellers — that of waste of re- 
sources, food for instance. Observers tell of the great quan- 
tities of food served at each meal, and of the daily waste 
of what remained. One's plate at the table was literally 
loaded with viands, not half of which were consumed. 
There were very few poor to receive the bounty of others, 
and those few would have indignantly spurned charity.^^ 
Another kind of wastefulness prevailed in certain places, 
usually the more isolated country districts. There shift- 
lessness made itself evident; farming implements were not 
taken care of; borrowed property was sometimes not re- 
turned at all, sometimes sent back to the owner in an un- 
satisfactory condition. Complaints were made that manu- 
factured articles, in many parts of the country, were never 
finished as well as they might have been, but were only put 
in such shape as might sell them readily.^^ 

There were more serious consequences of this love of 
gain. Speaking of the American trading classes, Hamilton 
observed : * ' One cannot but be struck with a certain resolute 
and obtrusive cupidity of gain, and a laxity of principle 
as to the means of acquiring it, which I should be sorry to 
believe formed any part of the character of my country- 
men. I have heard conduct praised in conversation at a 
public table, which, in England, would be attended, if not 
with a voyage to Botany Bay, at least with total loss of 
character. It is impossible to pass an hour in the bar of 
the hotel without being struck with the tone of callous 
selfishness which pervades the conversation, and the ab- 
sence of all pretension to pure and lofty principle. The 
only restraint upon these men is the law, and he is evi- 
dently considered the most skilful in his vocation, who con- 
trives to over-reach his neighbor without incurring its 

31 Hodgson, II, 37; Welby, p. 276. 

32 Hall, B., II, 25-26. 



312 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

penalties." ^^ In no particular, it was considered, was this 
disregard of probity more conspicuous than in cases of 
insolvency. Failure in trade was generally the means of 
building up a new fortune. It was said that this laxness 
was due to the difference in the laws in the various states, 
and to the consequently confused ideas of right and wrong. 
At any rate, the schemes to which the Americans resorted 
were considered a disgrace to the country. Foreigners, 
many of whom had a personal interest in the matter, be- 
wailed the fact that creditors were paid arbitrarily, interest 
dictating to the insolvent whether they should receive any- 
thing or not. Breaches of trust in responsible positions 
were considered to be everyday occurrences. Many Eng- 
lishmen were afraid to have commercial dealings with 
American traders, so generally unreliable were these sup- 
posed to be. "I must complain much of American 
roguery," said an English resident of Kentucky to Faux. 
''Hardly anybody cares about poor honesty and punctual- 
ity. If a man can, or is disposed to pay, he pays ; if not so 
disposed, or not able, he smiles and tells you to your face, 
he shall not pay." ^* The New England Yankee of course, 
bore the brunt of the accusation, particularly because he 
was looked upon by his fellow-countrymen as the embodi- 
ment of ''smartness" and trickery in business.^^ Travel- 
lers narrate stories that have been told them of wooden nut- 
megs, or of watches sold at auction without works, or of 
common sheep with Merino wool sewed upon them. Melish 

33 Hamilton, I, 124-125. 

34rearon, pp. 379-380; Parkinson, II, 504; Hodgson, II, 254 flF; 
Faux, p. 189; Fidler, p. 81; Bristed, p. 456; Janson, pp. 244-245; 
Moore, T., "Epistle to Lord Viscount Forbes from the City of Wash- 
ington;" Weld, I, 403-404. 

35 Hamilton, I, 225, 249, 261-265; Alexander, II, 58-59; Neilson, 
pp. 233-234; Hall, F., pp. 266-269; Mrs. Trollope, II, 137-138; Faux, 
pp. 117-118. 



CHARACTER 313 

limits trickery in business to the seaport towns, where the 
commercial spirit was so strong that principle was often 
sacrificed at the shrine of commerce,^^ but in general, very 
few exceptions were made to the rule of business dis- 
honesty. It was even believed that Americans prided them- 
selves on getting into debt and then showing how adroitly 
they could get out of paying. Nor was it customary, it 
was said, for these people to point out defects in goods, 
or errors in accounts, when these were in their favor.^^ 
The fondness for lotteries was another indication of dis- 
honesty which professedly horrified Englishmen. It was 
declared that even churches were built by means of them. 
''Lotteries pervade the middle, southern and western 
States," said Bristed, ''and spread a horribly increasing 
mass of idleness, fraud, theft, falsehood, and profligacy 
throughout all the classes of our labouring population. . . . 
Our state legislatures never assemble without augmenting 
the number of lotteries. ' ' ^® This lack of a fine sense of 
honesty was the more astonishing in view of the probity in 
other matters, and the comparative absence of crime in the 
country.^^ Pilfering and house-breaking especially were 
commented on as being conspicuously absent. English visi-/ 
tors were surprised to find that doors and windows were 
left open night and day, and that possessions of all kinds 
were left lying about, often over night, with no apprehen- 
sion entertained by their owners. Americans also gave 
their visitors credit for being honest ; money was lent freely 
to Englishmen in distress. Francis Hall tells of an ex- 
perience in Elmira, New York, where a storekeeper offered 
him money to go to Philadelphia without any other se- 

36Melish, I, 44. 

37 Faux, pp. 96-97. 

38 Bristed, pp. 435-436; Hodgson, II, 258. 

39 Hodgson, II, 253; Stuart, I, 150; Abdy, II, 305; Candler, p. 454. 



314 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

curity than his word. Hall says his surprise was the 
greater because he had been told that Americans never 
failed to cheat and insult Englishmen.*" This scrupulous 
personal honesty was attributed to the slight temptation to 
theft in a country where there was ample facility for ob- 
taining a livelihood.'^^ 

In spite of the prevalence of certain vices, the great 
amount of drinking that went on, the gambling and the 
duelling, the quality of American morality was generally 
conceded to be high.*- This has been seen to be especially 
true of the chastity of American women. Mrs. Trollope 
maintained that the standard of general morality in the 
United States was much lower than in Europe, but travel- 
lers frankly disagreed with her. It is to be remembered, 
besides, that Mrs. Trollope did not visit New England, 
where the standard was universally thought by foreigners 
to be the highest in the country. Hamilton, a true Scotch- 
man, admitted that not even in his own land was morality 
at so high a premium as in this section. 

Notwithstanding the many comments on the independence 
of manner and the defective education of the American 
children in this respect, there was observed to be a certain 
conservatism in American ideas, a kind of holding back 
from that which was new and strange. Men tended to 
follow, for instance, the religious and political opinions of 
their fathers. ''In the United States," said Hamilton, 
''one is struck with the fact that there exist certain doc- 
trines and opinions which have descended like heirlooms 
from generation to generation, and seem to form the sub- 
ject of a sort of national entail, most felicitously contrived 

40 Hall, F., p. 156. 

41 Candler, p. 454. 

42 Hodgson, II, 251-252, 2C0-261; Candler, p. 480; Mrs. Trollope, 
II, 138; Hamilton, I, 163. 



CHARACTER 315 

to check the national tendency to intellectual advancement 
in the inheritors. The sons succeed to these opinions of 
their father, precisely as they do to his silver salvers, or 
gold-headed cane ; and thus do certain dogmas, political and 
religious, gradually acquire a sort of prescriptive authority 
and continue to be handed down, unsubjected to the test of 
philosophical examination. . . . Enquire their reasons for 
the inbred faith of which they are the dark, though vehe- 
ment apostles, and you get nothing but a few shallow 
truisms, which absolutely afford no footing, for the con- 
clusions they are brought forward to establish. " *^ A fea- 
ture of this conservatism in opinion was the high value 
that was attached to the authority of certain individuals. 
Men like Washington and Jefferson, for instance, were con- 
stantly being quoted, sometimes in connection with matters 
in which they probably were poor authority. Candler ob- 
jected to hearing Jefferson's opinions on literature ex- 
plained repeatedly. He says that an American told him 
that Jefferson was considered the most learned man in the 
world.^^ 

In their attitude toward one another, the Americans 
were considered most praiseworthy ; their charity and help- 
fulness to those in distress was generally acknowledged.*^ 
It is true that Mrs. Trollope remarked that there was less 
almsgiving in America than in any other Christian country 
on the face of the globe, but she did not explain what 
other travellers pointed out, that there was also less occa- 
sion for alms, and fewer objects of charity. Among the mem- 
bers of a community, misfortune always called forth the 

43 Hamilton, I, 128. 

44 Candler, p. 108. 

45 Hodgson, II, 38; Birkbeck, "Notes on a Journey," pp. 114-115; 
Mrs. Trollope, 167; Tudor, II, 411-412; Cooper, p. 57; Martineau, 
II, 194; Fowler, p. 214; Hall, F., Appendix, p. 266; Neilson, p. 194. 



316 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

kindest and most practical expressions of sympathy. This 
feeling grew up as a matter of course in a new country 
where a certain amount of dependence upon one's neigh- 
bors was inevitable. Miss Martineau noticed that though 
there was nothing that men prized so much in America as 
time, there was nothing that the people were more willing 
to give to the service of others. Whole families of chil- 
dren were often taken over by some relative of the de- 
ceased father or mother, and brought up as a matter of 
course. So common was this that one traveller remarks 
that it ceased to meet with praise, it was merely a per- 
formance of duty. Appreciative visitors regretted that 
this helpful side of American character did not seem to 
be so patently exhibited as were the faults. The sympathy 
of the Americans was not so evident, it was said, because 
their social system did not compel them to suffer ; it is only 
oppression that engenders pity. 

The stranger generally not only saw the greatest kind- 
liness prevailing among neighbors, but felt it extended to 
himself. Even Basil Hall's book is full of instances of 
this lavish hospitality, which, however, many strangers 
observed to be relative. ''From Massachusetts to Mary- 
land," said Thomas Cooper, ''inns are plenty, and strang- 
ers frequent them when they travel; from the south 
boundary of Pennsylvania to South Carolina, taverns are 
scarce and dear, and hospitality is on the most liberal 
scale. ' ' *^ Francis Hall made a very amusing comment on 
the tradition of hospitality in certain parts of the Union. 
He believed that the old time virtue was fast disappear- 
ing — at least the sort of hospitality of which Jefferson had 
told him — which waylaid strangers on the roads and com- 
pelled them to come in. "While I was in the North," 
HaU says, "I was constantly told of the hospitality of the 

46 Cooper, p. 52. 



CHARACTER 317 

South; at Philadelphia I found it ice-bound: at Baltimore 
there was indeed a thaw, but at Washington, the frost, 
probably from the congenial influence of politicks, was 
harder than ever; the thermometer rose but little at Rich- 
mond, and when I arrived at Charleston, I was entertained, 
not with its hospitality, but with an eulogium upon that of 
Boston. I did not retrace my steps to put the matter to 
proof." ^^ Other travellers, less analytical of the kind- 
ness which sheltered and fed them, paid glowing tribute 
to the Americans in this respect. Candler devotes two en- 
tire chapters to instances of unsolicited hospitality and 
politeness, extended to him in different parts of the coun- 
try; one sees incidentally that the credit should not be 
attributed entirely to his hosts.*^ Murray tells with grati- 
tude of the kindly treatment he met with while seriously 
ill with cholera in Cincinnati. He says that an American 
acquaintance came to see him two or three times a day, 
bringing him comforts from his own home, in which he 
invited Murray to take up his invalid abode.^^ The lack of 
ostentation in entertaining guests was a subject of com- 
ment. Very little change w^as made in the meal; guests 
were well supplied with food, but were not urged to eat 
and drink more than they wished^°. Miss Martineau de- 
clared that American hospitality was so remarkable, and 
the stranger usually so grateful, that there was danger of 
its blinding him to the real state of affairs in other par- 
ticulars.^^ On the other hand, Abdy maintained that it had 

47 Hall, F., pp. 245-246. 

48 Candler, Chaps. X and XI, p. 125 ff; also Hodgson, II, 38; 
Weld, I, 143-145; Hamilton, I, 120; Neilson, pp. 270-271; Fowler, 
p. 214; Power, II, 347. 

49 Murray, I, 150-151. 
50 Stuart,' I, 299. 

51 Martineau, I, 229. 



318 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

a wonderful effect in sharpening the discriminating facul- 
ties of the mind ! °^ 

The patience and good humor of the Americans were 
almost proverbial. How could the stagecoach passenger 
complain of the frequent breaking of the springs on the 
rough road, when the driver, on whom alone rested the 
responsibility of repairs, set to work patiently and good- 
humoredly to ''fix" the broken part? Travellers tell of 
long journeys beguiled by the cheerfulness of native fellow- 
passengers, and of the philosophical calm displayed by 
these Americans in emergencies.^^ No one, however, would 
have thought of calling the American gay ; many strangers 
noticed the habitual gravity of his expression. Hamilton 
was surprised at the apparent lack of happiness in New 
England, where ''the materials of happiness were so widely 
and plentifully diffused. ' ' The countenances of the people 
were furrowed with care; no one seemed to have a light 
heart; soul and body were "withered up by the anxieties 
of life. ' ' ^^ Francis Hall says that the usual gravity of 
manners and deportment were attributable to the fact that 
the Americans were habitually occupied with matters of 
deep interest. ^^ Though not without wit, the inhabitants 
of the United States seemed lacking too in a certain kind 
of humor, the humor of the more boisterous kind. John 
Davis remarked that this quality was not indigenous to 
Americans. "The pleasantries of a droll would not relax 
the risible muscles of a party of Americans, however dis- 
posed to be merry; the wag would feel no encouragement 
from the surrounding countenances to exert his laughter- 
moving powers, but like the tyrant in the tragedy, he would 

52 Abdy, II, 306. 

53 See, for instance, Martineau, I, 240; D'Arusmont, pp. 126-127. 

54 Hamilton, I, 256. 

55 Hall, F., Appendix, p. 266. 



CHARACTER 319 

be compelled to swallow the poison that was prepared for 
another." ^^ This lack of a joyous spirit was noticed in 
both young and old alike. Blane commented on the fact 
that he never saw even American school-boys playing at 
any game whatsoever. '' Cricket, football, and quoits, etc., 
appear to be utterly unknown, and I believe if an Amer- 
ican were to see grown-up men playing at Cricket, he 
would express as much astonishment as the Italians did, 
when some Englishmen played at this finest of all games 
in the Cascina at Florence." ^^ Welby offered as a reason 
for this lack of national amusement, the great number of 
elements in American life, agreeing only in devotion to 
religious and political liberty, and the resulting lack of a 
national character, ''the effect," he says ''is an evident 
want of energy, of heart and soul in everything animating 
to other nations. I am just returned from witnessing the 
celebration of the anniversay of their Liberty . . . such a 
festival might well be expected to call forth every spark of 
enthusiasm, but even then, not an eye, either of spectators 
or actors, glistened with joy or animation, the latter seemed 
walking to a funeral; the others contemplating the melan- 
choly ceremony ! Nothing could dispel the illusion but the 
gay clothes of the female spectators, to which their count- 
enances in general bore a strong contrast. ' ' ^^ 

A trait which seemed to be apparent to Scotch visitors 
particularly was the lack of local attachment.^^ Ameri- 
cans seemed to be always moving about. Bristed remarked 
that they were "undoubtedly the most locomotive and 
migrating people in the world." A love of change was 
indeed obviously manifested in American life; it even ex- 

56 Davis, John, p. 104. 

57 Blane, pp. 502-503; also Weston, pp. 198-204. 

58 Welby, p. 170. 

59 See Murray, I, 111; Hamilton, I, 223; Bristed, p. 427. 



320 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

tended to the frequent changing of the officers of ad- 
ministration, as has already been said. 

The government was regarded as the greatest unifying 
force in the formation of American character. ' ' The com- 
mon qualities which may be said to be generated by this 
influence," said Francis Hall, ''are intelligence or a quick 
perception of utility, both general and individual; hence 
their attachment to freedom and to every species of im- 
provement, both publick and private; energy and per- 
severance in carrying their plans into effect . . . gravity 
of manner and deportment, because they are habitually 
occupied upon matters of deep interest ; taciturnity, which 
is the offspring of thought. ' ' ^^ Hamilton confessed that 
the political relations of the Americans were hard to un- 
derstand though their other characteristics were marked 
and their peculiarities lay on the surface. ''The patriot 
of one company was the scoundrel of the next," says the 
perplexed Scotchman.^^ Everywhere there was evidence 
of fervent party spirit, and yet the harmony of the country 
in regard to the great principles of government was too 
manifest to be ignored.^^ 

The number of Englishmen who made any real attempt 
at analysis of American character is relatively small. In- 
cidental and local comments of course are more numerous, 
but one feels the lack of a complete and philosophical dis- 
cussion. Perhaps the Englishman did not understand the 
American well enough to analyze him; it is more likely 
that he regarded the native traits as secondary in interest to 
the institutions of which they were largely the result. 

60 Hall, F., pp. 265-266. 

61 Hamilton, I, 282, 292. 

62 Weld, I, 413; Hamilton, I, 209-210; Moore, T., Preface to "Poems 
Relating to America" in "Poetical Works" (1853 edition). Vol. II, 
203. 



CHAPTER XII 
THE FUTUEE OF THE UNION 

Because the United States represented such a unique 
experiment in statecraft, her ultimate destiny seemed to 
have an unusual importance for the other nations of the 
world. If she could demonstrate that a government estab- 
lished on her principles, and composed of various elements, 
could withstand the wear and tear of internal and external 
dissension, and come forth triumphant from her trial, she 
could do much to remove from the consciousness of the 
world the close connection that existed between revolution 
and bloodshed; between republics and lawlessness. ''If a 
government founded upon a republican model does not 
succeed there," said Latrobe, ''surely the question of its 
suitableness to the state of mankind as they are, should be 
considered as determined forever. ' '^ This period witnessed 
only the beginning of the country's existence as a nation; 
consequently it was the time when conjectures as to the 
probable destiny of the United States were particularly 
numerous. Certain policies of the government were still 
in their infancy, and had not yet demonstrated their prac- 
ticability. One was therefore at liberty to make surmises 
in regard to them, and, in so doing, to indulge to the full 
the desire to explain one's own theories of government. 

It has been said before that the greatest and most inevit- 

1 Latrobe, II, 57. See also Faux, p. 28. 
321 



322 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

able distintegrating force was considered to be the institu- 
tion of slavery. This was to be dreaded in both its moral 
and economic effects.^ Those who emphasized the moral 
side of the question dwelt upon the injustice of the institu- 
tion. What nation could expect to flourish and to become 
permanent when it was basely ignoring the first principles 
of justice and the rights of the slaves as human beings? 
The Americans were professing to be lovers of liberty, and 
at the same time were making capital of an enslaved race. 
This lack of consistency in theory and practice could not 
expect to go unpunished. ' ' If the laws of God and the ar- 
rangements of man are incompatible, man's arrangements 
must give way." The past history of other nations afforded 
melancholy instances to show that, economically, slavery 
was destined to be the ruin of the nation, in its pernicious 
effects on industry and agriculture. The greatest evil, how- 
ever, which could arise from this institution, as the 
foreigner saw it, was the separation of North and South. 
This was the only one of the definite prophecies of evil 
which has as yet been justified by subsequent history. Such 
disputes as those over the tariff, and over the admission of 
new states as slave or free, were destined in time, it was 
said, to be the opening wedge of the division. *' Before 
Washington's bones are dissolved in the tomb, the sword 
of civil discord will be drawn in the land to which he 
bequeathed the fatal gift of democratic freedom." ''The 
worldly inteersts of the minority," said Miss Martineau, 
''. . . are bound up with the anomaly. . . . The minority 
may go on for a length of time in apparent harmony with 
the expressed will of the many — the law. But the time 
comes when the anomaly clashes with the law." Practi- 

2 For effect of slavery, see Flower, pp. 97-98; Candler, pp. 397-399; 
Martineau, I, 132; Duncan, II, 331-334; Hamilton, II, p. 227; Black- 
wood's Magazine, XXXIII, 225. 



THE FUTURE OF THE UNION 323 

cally no English visitor who expressed himself at all on 
the subject, needed to be convinced that the United States 
could not long exist unless she extirpated the curse of 
slavery. 

Granted that she did so, her future was still insecure 
and problematical because of certain defects in the policy 
of the government, all of them details in themselves, but 
important in their bearing. Some of these had to do with 
the manner of electing officials. The most trivial of these 
defects was the custom of voting by ballot.^ Most Eng- 
lishmen believed that voting should be done viva voce, and 
that the paper ballots used by the Americans were liable 
to corruption. ''The less secrecy and mystery there is in 
political matters, the better," said one of these critics, 
''everything in a land of freedom should be open to public 
inspection." "This system," said another, "excludes the 
open, wholesome influences of talent and property at the 
elections, and encourages a perpetual course of intrigue 
and fraud, by enabling the cunning demagogue to impose 
upon the credulity of the weak and ignorant. Indeed, the 
frauds practised by the substitution of one set of ballots 
for another, in every electioneering campaign throughout 
the country, are in themselves innumerable and shameless ; 
and the success of elections generally depends upon the 
adroitness of intrigue exhibited by the more active political 
partisans. ' ^ 

Another defect was the frequency of the elections, an 
imperfection extending through the whole system of Amer- 
ican government.* The drawbacks of this repeated change 
of office were obvious to the travellers. It was criticised as 

3 See Candler, pp. 388-389; Bristed, p. 120; Brothers, p. 132 ff; 
Matthews, I, 74. 

4 On this point, see Duhring, p. 9; Bristed, pp. 116 ff; Hamilton, 
II, 62-63; Hall, B., II, 266 (quotes DeWitt Clinton) ; Kendall, I, 157. 



324 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

making the representatives of the people too local in their 
policy, and too dependent upon the will of their con- 
stituents; a candidate who wished to accomplish anything 
of importance in his office was obliged to stand for re- 
election. So short was the term of office in some cases, it 
was pointed out, that it was difficult to investigate and 
annul spurious elections before it was time to consider an- 
other candidate. Frequent elections, too, kept the people 
generally in a turmoil during the greater part of the 
year; time that should have been spent in useful and pro- 
ductive occupations was wasted in unprofitable politics. 
Such a method of procedure was inevitably destined to 
make the country poorer and the people less industrious. 
The evil had also a wider application; a Congress which 
was changed so frequently was of necessity without a set- 
tled policy in regard to the conduct of national affairs and 
the development of the country's resources. ''One man 
will not plant, that another may reap the harvest of his 
labors ; he will not patiently lay the foundation of a struc- 
ture, the plan of which is continually liable to be changed 
by his successor, on whom, if completed, the whole honours 
must ultimately devolve. In short, it is an inherent and 
monstrous evil, that American statesmen must legislate for 
the present, not for the future. . . . Immediate and tem- 
porary expediency is, and must be, the moving and effi- 
cient impulse of American legislation.'* 

State representation in the electing of the president was 
also considered to be much in need of re-adjustment. The 
influence of each of the states was in exact ratio to the 
number of its population. As the increase of population in 
some states was greater than in others, the former tended 
to secure to themselves the electing power. Thomas Ham- 
ilton foresaw the time when the three states — New York, 
Pennsylvania, and Ohio, would together possess the nu- 



THE FUTURE OF THE UNION 325 

merical majority of the population and could therefore 
elect the president. If the other states tried to amend the 
constitution on this point, their attempt would be futile, 
because these three states would also have a majority in 
the House of Representatives.^ 

The most serious evil connected with the elections and 
regarded with apprehension by these borrowers of trouble, 
was, however, the tendency toward universal suffrage,^ 
which became practically a fact in the first part of the 
nineteenth century. Even if the nation did away with 
all religious restrictions, said the critics, would it not have 
been well to keep the property qualification, especially, as 
one traveller pointed out, since the lack of property in a 
country like America, full of opportunities, stamped one 
as idle and thriftless? Besides, ''property has a tendency 
to bind a man more strongly to the interest of his coun- 
try; and, if so, he is the more likely to be careful and 
considerate to do nothing that has a tendency to involve 
the country in difficulties; for by doing so he would put 
in jeopardy his individual property that he or his fore- 
fathers have taken so much pains to obtain." Much was 
said in regard to the connection between universal suffrage 
and bribery.'^ Some foreigners asserted that bribery existed 
in the United States; others tried to show that it was im- 
probable. Most of the former believed that the practical 
difficulties which were said to stand in the way of corrupt- 
ing such large numbers of people, offered no obstacle to the 
practice. The natural result of a universal suffrage was 

5 See, for system of representation, Hamilton, II, 49, I, 311; Vigne, 
I, 204-206; Hall, B., II, 254 ff. 

6 For universal suffrage, see Duhring, p. 10; Duncan, II, 335; 
Hamilton, I, 313-314; Brothers, p. 244; Bristed, pp. 120-121; Vigne, 
I, 191 ff. 

7 0useley, p. 32; Duhring, p. 10; Candler, pp. 383, 394; Vigne, I, 
192-193; Duncan, II, 335. 



326 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

that much-dreaded state of affairs — a mob rule which kept 
office-holders subservient to its interests, and tended to ex- 
clude from the administration of the government ''men of 
talents, character, and property." The evil effects of this 
extension of the suffrage could not yet be seen ; perhaps, as 
Duncan hopefully suggested, some antidote might yet be 
discovered, but it was quite certain in the minds of many 
people that the interests of the United States were des- 
tined to suffer, at some time in the future, because of the 
adoption of this policy. 

Another serious question was the relation of the execu- 
tive to the legislative department of the government.® It 
was believed that the states had acted unwisely in exclud- 
ing executive officers from all places in the representative 
bodies, thus "discarding a powerful and efficient guaran- 
tee for the honest and upright administration of their af- 
fairs. The knowledge that every political measure will be 
subjected to a rigid and unsparing scrutiny, and must be 
defended to the satisfaction of honorable men in open 
discussion, is assuredly the most effective safeguard which 
has yet been devised to secure the integrity of public men." 
Other observers complain of an exactly opposite tendency 
to merge the two departments of state. Basil Hall said 
that the constant aim of the populace was ' ' to draw within 
their circle as much of the executive power as possible, and 
to blend this with their legitimate authority; two things 
which universal experience elsewhere shows ought always 
to be kept separate." 

In their attitude toward their executives, from the presi- 
dent down to the smallest official, the Americans were 
characterized by what Englishmen called distrust and sus- 

8 Candler, p. 395 ff; Duhring, p. 9; Hamilton, II, 66-67; Hall, B., 
II, 311. 



THE FUTURE OF THE UNION 327 

picion.^ The tendency of the government was believed to 
be toward circumscribing more and more the influence of 
the executive, and putting more power into the hands of 
the people. Some foreigners looked upon this as the chief 
error of the American constitution, and thought it absurd 
that the president, for instance, could conclude no treaty 
without the consent of the Senate. In general, the presi- 
dent's power was considered to be altogether too limited 
and controlled for a vigorous government. In emergen- 
cies there was liable to be much procrastination in getting 
policies adopted. '^ Liable to impeachment and dismissal 
from office for the commission of treason and other high 
crimes and misdemeanors, he [the president] may do much 
good, but he can do no essential harm. The powers he 
derives from the constitution are in fact mere duties.'* 

The anxiety which was felt in regard to the relations 
between legislature and executives was extended to those 
that existed between the several states and the Federal 
government.^^ These had been, since the founding of the 
nation, the subject of many disputes. Englishmen seem to 
have taken the side of the states almost entirely. Hodgson 
said that it was a common idea in England that the sta- 
bility of the Union was much endangered by the trouble 
between the central government and the states, and that 
the former was inclined always to usurp the prerogatives 
of the latter. It was the belief, however, that the Federal 
government could not misuse its rights for any length of 
time without being checked by the states ; what was chiefly 
to be feared was the alienation of the two. 

9 For attitude toward officials, see De Roos, p. 29 ; Hamilton, I, 
363; Duhring, p. 9; Welby, pp. 334-335; Hall, B., II, 262-263, 311; 
Hodgson, II, 178-179. 

10 Duhring, p. 5, 11-14; Bristed, p. 218; Hodgson, II, 190-196; 
Mrs. Trollope, II, 20-21. 



328 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

Less important than these defects in the constitution, 
just discussed, seemed a group of considerations none of 
which commanded a general credence, but which are in- 
teresting as showing the kind of condition which might 
operate against the Union, and detract from its prosperity 
and efficiency. These ranged from the exclusion of the 
clergy from official positions ^^ to the lack of the law of 
primogeniture.^^ The levelling propensity betrayed in the 
custom of the equal sharing of property in the family, was 
to the mind of the observer not an unmixed blessing. It 
prevented the growth of a wealthy class which might be 
extremely useful to the community, and which might fit- 
tingly make a part of the state legislatures. On the other 
hand many Englishmen feared for America an increase 
in her poor.^^ Hamilton in discussing Miss Wright's 
''Workies," says that they present an aspect menacing to 
the government. Let luxury and poverty increase, and the 
cities become congested, and the so-called lower classes 
w^ould be something with which to reckon. It was true 
that the poor were now so comparatively few in number as 
to be a ' ' mere hydra in embryo, ' ' but the real time of trial 
for America was in the future. ' ' Hitherto, ' ' says De Boos, 
''the Americans have enjoyed the advantage of occupying a 
country where the evils of an overflowing population have 
not been felt; where every man is either a farmer or a 
merchant; where there are no idlers; and more than all, 
where there are no poor ; for vile indeed must be the Amer- 
ican who cannot, in some capacity, earn an ample main- 
tenance. When, however, the means of carrying off a super- 
fluous population begin to fail, which, at some period must 

11 Bristed, pp. 122-123. 

12 Hall, B., II, 309. 

13 Hamilton, I, 295-297. See refutation of Hamilton in Shirreflf, 
p. 291 flf; Vigne, I, 247-249. 



THE FUTURE OF THE UNION 329 

be the case, ... we may expect to see the disadvantages 
of a popular government."^* One of the greatest draw- 
backs to the future prosperity of the country was, in Miss 
Martineau 's opinion, the general apathy in regard to the 
duties of citizenship. ^5 *'In England," she said, *'the idea 
of an American citizen is of one who is always talking poli- 
tics, canvassing, bustling about to make proselytes abroad, 
buried in newspapers at home, and hurrying to vote on 
election day." The true situation was quite different from 
this. Many of the more respectable men were extremely 
apathetic and indifferent in regard to voting, not appearing 
to realize the harm they were doing to the public good. 
Fear of criticism kept many from assuming the respon- 
sibility of office, a circumstance by which the corrupt ele- 
ment profited. 

These were only relatively unimportant defects of gov- 
ernment policy, the action of which, or the combination of 
which, might interfere with the progress of the nation. 
The imagination of the average traveller, however, was not 
satisfied with these trivial bugbears. Much more serious to 
him was the disparity of interests that prevailed in the dif- 
ferent parts of the country.^^ No two sections were alike, 
and each defended itself against the rest with the fiercest 
jealousy. Could it be expected that unity of government 
should be compatible with great diversities of interest in 
the governed? One traveller cited the instance of Florida 
and Maine. ''In Florida and Louisiana they grow sugar; 
in Maine there is scarcely enough sun to ripen a crop of 

14 De Roos, p. 28. 

15 Martineau, I, 115 ff; also Duncan, II, 328. 

16 For disparity of interests, see Hamilton, I, 306-308 j Matthews, 
I, 75-76; Candler, p. 397; Tudor II, 508-509; D'Arusmont, p. 287;. 
Bristed, pp. 234-235; Flint, pp. 210-211; Martineau, I, 135-143. 



330 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

maize. The people of these states are no less different than 
the productions of their soil. They are animated by no sen- 
timent of brotherhood and affinity. Nature has divided 
them by a distance of two thousand miles; the interests of 
one are neither understood nor cared for in the other. In 
short, they are connected by nothing but a clumsy and 
awkward piece of machinery most felicitously contrived to 
deprive both of the blessing of self-government." There 
was not only the difference between North and South; it 
might be expected that at some time in the future the East 
and the West would come into conflict. The practical diffi- 
culty of representation for so large a field was urged. If 
this obstacle were surmounted, the result would stiU en- 
gender strife. The great extent of territory west of the 
Mississippi afforded space for numerous future states, 
which, with a growing population and a proportionally in- 
creasing representation, would soon be able to outvote the 
East in Congress. Eastern interests would inevitably suf- 
fer in that event. ' ' The tendency of all this, ' ' said Bristed, 
speaking of the growing preponderance of Western influ- 
ence, ''beyond a peradventure, is either to break up the 
Federal Union, and entail a perpetuity of anarchy and civil 
broils throughout the whole continent, or to crush the At- 
lantic States beneath the enormous hoofs of the western 
mammoth." James Flint, who was thoroughly familiar 
with the Western district, did not believe that that section 
of the country would ever separate from the East. ''The 
western settlements," he says, "have the strongest incite- 
ments to remain in close conjunction with their eastern 
neighbors. A separation from them in times of war would 
cut off all communication by land with the eastern coast; 
an inconvenience that would greatly aggravate any at- 
tempt to blockade the mouth of the Mississippi. A separa- 



THE FUTURE OF THE UNION 331 

tion would retard the ingress of population, it would injure 
internal trade, it would occasion additional expense in sup- 
porting a separate government, and it would deprive them 
of the protection of the United States navy. It will scarcely 
be alleged that the Eastern States have an interest in dis- 
solving the compact with the Western; as by that step, 
they would not only forego a rapid accumulation of 
strength, but would incur the danger of converting fellow- 
citizens into the most powerful enemies. They would lose 
that important branch of revenue which arises from the 
sale of public lands, and they would no longer participate 
in the fur trade." 

This sectional jealousy was necessarily inconsistent with 
sound and wholesome legislation.^^ Each representative, it 
was urged, in protecting the interests of his own part of 
the country, would estimate measures, not by their tendency 
to benefit the whole union, but by their bearing on particu- 
lar interests. The disparities were the more serious because 
they arose largely from climate and soil and were therefore 
beyond legislative interference. A circumstance which 
might lead to serious inconvenience, was the difference in 
the laws of the various states. This resulted from the great 
number of separate state governments, and was regarded by 
the foreigner as a disintegrating circumstance, for, as one 
Englishman said, nothing tends more to unite a people into 
general harmony and to make them feel a common interest, 
than the being subject to the same laws in all parts of the 
country.^* Unfortunately, in the United States the ten- 
dency was in the opposite direction. 

Facing all these obstacles to growth and longevity, the 
United States might well be expected to fail to achieve a 

17 Hamilton, I, 196, 376-377; Vigne, I, 260. 

18 Candler, p. 387. 



332 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

glorious destiny. ^^ She was still, as it were, in her infancy ; 
her real time of trial had not yet come but it was none the 
less inevitably coming. Even the most pessimistic critics 
did not set a very early date for her dissolution. Vigne is 
the only observer who predicts that it will probably be less 
than a half century before the United States ''will fall to 
pieces by its own weight. ' ' But the seeds of dissolution, it 
was said, had had their origin with the government, and 
might be expected to come to fruition at some future time. 

It is by no means true that all English travellers looked 
upon the United States as a nation doomed to destruction. 
To many, the signs of the times were too hopeful to justify 
gloomy predictions.^*^ Some steered a middle course, and 
prophesied that the government would slowly assume a new 
form, eliminating one by one the faults that impeded the 
country's progress, and, as one traveller expressed it, "fix- 
ing its rule upon the broad and firm foundations of prop- 
erty and talent." It was to be hoped and expected that 
America's practice of government would approach more 
nearly to her theory, which was conceded to be almost 
ideal. 

The necessity of the preservation of the Union for the ul- 
timate welfare of the several states was emphasized.^^ Let 
this confederation once be dissolved, and all the advantages 
peculiar to the United States would be lost. The parts 
could not be separated without disturbing the happiness of 

19 See Smyth, J. F. D., "A Tour in the United States of America" 
(1784), Vol. II, Chap. LXXV entire. Smyth was in America during 
the Revolution, and accordingly suffered at the hands of the Amer- 
icans. His chapter is an interesting prophecy in view of the fact that 
the separation of England and the United States was scarcely con- 
summated at the time it was written. Vigne, II, 273. 

20 See Bristed, p. 218; Fearon, p. 363; Bl<ickwood'8 Magazine, 
XXXII, 93. 

2iDuhring, pp. 19-20; Bristed, p. 211, 213-214 (quotation). 



THE FUTURE OF THE UNION 333 

the whole. It behooved the Americans to remember the 
evils surmounted in the past by the aid of such men as 
Washington and the other founders of the republic, and by 
that memory cling to and protect the Federal union, ''that 
federal union which, if once dissolved, ensures the breaking 
up of the foundations of civil order, peace, and safety, over 
all the range of this extensive territory; ensures a perpetu- 
ity of . . . anarchy, civil war, carnage, and desola- 
tion. . . Better, far better, would it be for the United 
States to endure an entire century of foreign war, or to 
labour fifty years under the burden of domestic maladmin- 
istration, than by severing the federal Union into a multi- 
tude of petty principalities, to entail upon all the extent of 
the northern continent of America the prevalence of foreign 
factions, French, Russian and British, perpetually interfer- 
ing with, and confounding, all their home movements and 
measures; and above all, to ensure a perpetuity of feudal 
anarchy and brigandage; of castellated feuds; of partisan 
w^arfare; of hereditary hostility, of arbitrary incarcera- 
tion; of inquisitorial torment; of military execution; of 
private assassination; of public pillage; of universal op- 
pression and all the calamities incident to afflicted human- 
ity, when force and fraud are the arbiters of right and 
wrong. ' ' 

If these states could be kept united, a glorious future lay 
before them, as they had within themselves all the materials 
for greatness.22 Observers cited, as elements of strength, 
the civil and religious equality, the adaptability of the sep- 
arate state governments to the different parts of the coun- 
try, the natural advantages, the similarity in manners and 
in language. As James Flint said, it was an organiztion 
''well adapted to insure internal tranquility and protection 

22 Hodgson, II, 190; Flint, p. 213; Candler, pp. 397-401; Duhring, 
p. 11; Bristed, pp. 245-246; Matthews, I, 78. 



334 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

against invasion. ' ' It could reasonably be expected that the 
country would add to its territory, and that it would in 
time extend ''from the Atlantic to the Pacific; from Mexico 
to the shores of the arctic ocean." It was quite probable 
that the United States would seek to gain possession of 
Canada, in order to have the free navigation of the St. Law- 
rence and to prevent future hostilities from the British 
provinces. It was even suggested that Canada should be 
given to the United States for a consideration, in order to 
prevent future trouble. As for the West Indies, it was 
generally believed that they would in time become part of 
the new republic, though Candler said in 1824: ''As to 
Mexico, California, and the West Indies being added to the 
Union, a circumstance which some of the Americans are 
pleased to anticipate, the probabilities are so remote, that 
it is not worth while to examine them." 

In short, many visitors believed that far from being pe- 
culiarly susceptible to the danger of dissolution, the United 
States represented as nearly ideal a form of government, 
and as stable a one as could be imagined.^^ She could rea- 
sonably be supposed to last as long as any other human in- 
stitution, particularly since, by her legislation, the interests 
of the people were regarded; that kind of government, it 
was maintained, has always lasted longest. Her inhabitants 
had fought together for liberty, and the independence and 
self-confidence of the American character, which had re- 
sulted from this fact, were sufficient guarantees of the 
stability of the government. "I see no reason," an English- 
man remarked, ' ' why, in the ordinary course of things, this 
grand Confederation might not continue for ages. ... It 
is destined, I trust, to exhibit to the world at large a grand 
and successful experiment in legislation." "As a friend of 

23 Hodgson, II, 196 (quotation); Duhring, p. 6 ff., 127 (quota- 
tion) ; D'Arusmont, p. 265, 297; Hall, F., p. 332; Ouseley, p. 7. 



THE FUTURE OF THE UNION 335 

liberty and of free institutions," said another, *'I implore 
from the Almighty the salvation of the American Union! 
May this noble, verdant, and flourishing tree of liberty, 
planted by a free hand on a savage but fertile strand, which 
has already struck its roots deeply in the American soil and 
produced the richest and most abundant fruits, still gain in 
strength and in majestic stateliness! May its bark be pre- 
served from any injury ; its wood from the meanest worm ! 
May its roots never moulder; its sap never dry!" 



CHAPTER XIII 

CONCLUSION 

When the reader of this mass of travel literature tries to 
reduce the facts to some kind of system, he notices frequent 
gaps. The sins of omission are sometimes curious ones, and 
difficult if not impossible to account for. 

We notice immediately that observers usually describe 
the same parts of the country. This is easily understood if 
one remembers that few travellers went aside from the 
beaten paths because of the very practical difficulties in the 
way of transportation. For instance, those Englishmen 
who visited New England usually travelled over the roads 
between Albany and Boston, or between Boston and New 
York. There was very little going aside from two or three 
main-travelled routes. A few observers, as has been said, 
visited the White Mountains, and others saw as much of 
Vermont as was visible from the eastern shore of Lake 
Champlain, as they passed southward from Canada. Ken- 
dall was an exception to the rule in that he visited the 
isolated districts of Maine. Generally speaking, that sec- 
tion of the country was untouched, and the almost solitary 
Englishman, Melish, for instance, who wrote about the un- 
travelled regions of New England, drew his picture, not 
from what he had actually seen, but from information 
gleaned from other sources. 

The same is true of the rest of the country. Travel 
books abound in descriptions of New York, Philadelphia, 
Baltimore, Washington, Charleston, New Orleans, and Cin- 

336 



CONCLUSION 337 

cinnati. The best-known routes have already been traced 
in a previous chapter. The territory on either side of these 
roads remained an unknown land to the average traveller. 
Exceptions to the rule were men like Francis Baily and 
John Bradbury, who penetrated into comparatively un- 
settled parts and who give us our few pictures of those 
regions. So great was the tendency to follow the known 
road that even Fowler, who made a study of New York 
State, went from New York to Niagara and back in 1830 
by practically the same route. 

Another kind of omission has to do with the details of 
American life. On some of these, information is sadly lack- 
ing. We are told, for instance, very little of the appear- 
ance of the interior of an American home or inn, church or 
school. We have descriptions of the exterior of taverns 
and houses, and a few pictures of them, but the inside is 
left to the imagination. Travellers tell of congregating in 
the bar-room of the inns or hotels, and of despatching hasty 
meals in the dining room, without telling us what either of 
these rooms looked like. The same is true of the bedrooms ; 
all of the attention of the average traveller seems to have 
been concentrated on the question of the cleanliness and 
comfort of the bed. 

In the descriptions of the American home we miss many 
small details which would help to make the picture vivid. 
We get no conception of the furniture, of the pictures on 
the walls, of the numberless objects of utility important in 
the life of the household. We are told comparatively little 
about the clothing which Americans wore; what informa- 
tion we have on the subject is so fragmentary that we can 
form only a very unsatisfactory mental picture of the 
actual appearance of a typical American. We are eon- 
etantly impressed by the lack of discrimination in the choos- 
ing of subjects for discussion. It was perhaps natural that 



338 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

each traveller should set down in his note book mention 
of those objects which at the moment struck his fancy, but 
it is an inconvenient method for the historian who is at- 
tempting to reconstruct the life which the Englishman ob- 
served. 

On matters outside the home, we are baffled by the same 
silence in regard to certain points. Many travellers tell us, 
. for instance, of the turnpikes, which were generally re- 
^ garded as admirable. We are told by what method and 
under whose supervision they were constructed and how 
they differed from other American roads, but only one 
traveller, Abdy, tells us what kind of vehicles were exempt 
from the payment of tolls, and not one tells us the rate of 
toll. In regard to statistics too, there are few complete and 
authentic statements. Assertions which would naturally call 
for verification seem to have been offered with sublime in- 
difference to authority. Far too frequent for accurate in- 
formation is the occurrence of the phrases, **I was told by 
the citizens of the tOT\Ti," and *'I have the information 
from a gentleman of good standing." In most cases the 
omission of adequate authority leads the seeker after truth 
a chase in an attempt at verification. Most astonishing 
stories are told by observers on the slightest basis. Fidler, 
for instance, tells us that American clergymen are not 
permitted to sit in Congress. The origin of this prohibition 
he gives as follows: ''One of the members of Congress, 
a clergyman, was very desirous that some permanent pro- 
vision should be made for the episcopal church, and was 
urgent with a friend of his, a member also, to use his 
endeavors to accomplish it. This friend, probably an- 
noyed by frequent solicitations, and being, as Americans 
in general are represented, a summer 's-day friend, prom- 
ised his word of honour that he would do something for 
the church. Accordingly, he mentioned this circumstance 



CONCLUSION 339 

in Congress on the first opportunity, and relating his 
promise, moved that no clergyman should thenceforth 
sit in that house. The motion was carried by a vast 
majority, and clergymen, with their golden anticipations, 
vanished from it forever. This was told me by a divine of 
prominence. ' ' 

Considering that a great deal was said by English travel- 
lers about the interest of the Americans in politics, we are 
surprised to find that there was not more discussion in travel 
literature of the principles of the political system. The 
space devoted to this by most writers who mentioned the 
subject is occupied by quotations from the Federal consti- 
tution. The Englishman at home must have been rather 
at a loss if he depended on the travel books for any discus- 
sion of American politics and principles. Hamilton, it is 
true, includes a somewhat lengthy discussion of these sub- 
jects rather by way of warning to his own country. The 
one notable exception, however, is Kendall, whose detailed 
exposition of the constitution of Connecticut is still re- 
garded as authoritative. 

It was the very unusual things that naturally commanded 
the most attention. Such curiosities as fireflies, rattle- 
snakes, frogs, and mocking birds are seldom omitted from 
the accounts. The coloring of the American forests in the 
autumn and the severity of American thunderstorms were 
apparently subjects more worthy of comment than some of 
the greater issues of American life. It would be untrue to 
say that the average English traveller had no interest in the 
vital part of the ''American scene," but it is quite true 
that many of these visitors had much the same attitude as 
most of us have who visit foreign countries today; the 
things that we recount in our travel tales are the strik- 
ingly unusual and interesting circumstances. 

One must take into account, too, the particular bias of 



340 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

certain authors. Many of these travellers were especially- 
interested in one subject, in the light of which they inter- 
preted everything that they saw. This attitude is quite dis- 
tinct from the interest in trade revealed by Melish and 
Boardman and other writers who came for commercial rea- 
sons, or the botanical predilections of Bradbury. The re- 
ligious and the philanthropic inclinations seem to have been 
the most pronounced. A notable case is that of Abdy, 
whose whole interpretation of American life is colored by 
his sympathy for the negro. Hardly a chapter of his three 
volumes is free from some reference to the injustice of the 
white man to the black. The result is an unusual though 
not very reliable book. 

In the same way, though not to the same degree, Dun- 
can was interested in religious matters, and a strong strain 
of piety may be perceived throughout his work. He re- 
marks in his preface that very little has been said as to the 
moral condition of the inhabitants of the United States, or 
as to their literary and religious characteristics, and he 
proposes to set right the misapprehension on the subject. 
Fidler, too, looked at everything from the point of view of 
the religious conditions of the United States ; his account is 
colored, as well, by his personal disappointment. This last 
factor plays an important part in travel literature, as we 
have seen, in the case of such widely different people as 
Parkinson and Mrs. Trollope. 

The question of the relative value of these accounts is a 
puzzling one. In most cases, it is almost impossible to say 
which facts were borrowed from other sources and which 
ones were original. Some books were palpably compilations 
of other works. In this class is Kingdom's ''America and 
the British Colonies" (1820, 2nd ed.) The author says in 
his preface that his information has been collected for the 
guidance of a friend and himself, both of whom at that 



CONCLUSION 341 

period entertained some intention of emigrating. In mak- 
ing the book, he has consulted the publications which have 
met with the greatest share of public approbation. Evi- 
dently these are the works of Melish, Bristed, Bradbury, 
Michaux, Birkbeck, and Fearon. Much of his information 
is taken from the last-named author, whom he evidently 
regards as an authority. Another compilation is "A Geo- 
graphical, Historical, Commercial, and Agricultural View 
of the United States, Forming a Complete Emigrant's 
Directory, through Every Part of the Republic, Compiled 
by Several Gentlemen" (1820). When one looks through 
the large, closely-printed volume, it is easy to believe the 
statement that ''recourse has been had to every work of 
reputation on these subjects that has appeared since the 
year 1788." The compilers do not name the authors to 
whom they are indebted, but transfer bodily to their pages 
long quotations apparently given on their own authority. 

A rather charming book which is drawn from other than 
original sources is Priscilla Wakefield's ''Excursions in 
North America. ' ' In her preface, the author says that her 
chief sources have been Jefferson, Weld, Rochefoucault, 
Bartram, Michaux, Carver, Mackenzie, and Hearn. As 
has already been noted, this book was compiled primarily 
for young people, and gives a particularly good account of 
both Canada and the United States. William Bingley's 
"Travels in North America, from Modern Writers," has 
also been cited as having been written for young people. 
' ' It has been the design of the author, ' ' Bingley says, ' ' by 
a detail of anecdotes of extraordinary adventures, connected 
by illustrative remarks and observations, to allure young 
persons to a study of geography, and to the attainment of 
a knowledge of the character, habits, customs, and produc- 
tions of foreign nations." He quotes from Fearon, Weld, 



342 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

Birkbeck, Francis Hall, Michaux, Bartram, Mackenzie, 
Pike, and Lewis and Clark. 

In regard to the books of travel professedly original, 
some caution is necessary. The works which are in the 
form of letters written from America, or journals of the 
tour, kept more or less regularly and written down on the 
spot, inspire us with more confidence than do the more uni- 
fied and much better written discussions. On the whole, it 
may be said that most of the travellers are rather scrupu- 
lous about attributing credit to the authorities from whom 
they borrow. Englishmen had recourse to many American 
books; several writers, Bristed, Francis Hall, and Priest, 
for instance, quote from Jefferson's ''Notes on Virginia." 
Another favorite authority was Jedidiah Morse's ''Geog- 
raphy." Many gaps in the accounts of Palmer, Bristed, 
Francis Hall, and Francis Baily were filled by information 
from this standard work. Few visitors were as careful bor- 
rowers as was Ouseley, whose chief authority was govern- 
ment records; however, Pitkin's "Statistical View of the 
United States" and Tench Coxe's "View of the United 
States of America" were consulted with profit. Bristed 's 
book, for instance, is based largely on these two authori- 
ties, as well as on Brown's "Western Gazetteer," which 
other travellers also found helpful. James Stuart and 
Blane depended on Darby, whose "Louisiana" and "View 
of the United States" were universally accepted as author- 
itative. Stuart also used Timothy Flint 's ' ' Geography and 
History of the United States." Another useful American 
publication was Imlay's "Topographical Description of 
the Western Territory of North America," which was 
quoted by Baily ; Bristed considered it, however, too flatter- 
ing an account. 

English travellers seem to have depended little on one 
another. Melish is perhaps the most generally known ; his 



CONCLUSION 343 

map of the United States was considered very accurate; 
both Palmer and Blane copy it in their books. But if the 
average traveller took his information from the fellow- 
countrymen who preceded him, the fact is not apparent. 
That he was aware of the work of other observers is evident 
not only from the mention of English books of travel in the 
prefaces of the various works, but from the fact that many 
travellers refute the statements of other writers. This has 
already been shown to be true in the case of the distorted 
statements offered by Captain Hall and Mrs. TroUope, and 
the optimistic accounts of Birkbeck. Other instances occur 
here and there in this travel literature. Madame D'Arus- 
mont, for example, speaks of Francis Hall's work in terms 
of commendation, and severely criticises Fearon's book. 
Bristed makes his opening chapter a discussion of other 
writers on America, both English and French. He exposes 
the credulity of Weld and the misrepresentations of Thomas 
Moore and discusses the authoritativeness of Beau jour, Bris- 
sot, Volney, Melish, Bradbury, and Birkbeck. Such men- 
tion of other observers bears witness to the fact that English 
travellers were well known to one another; in regard to 
actual transmission of statement, however, one cannot be 
sure. If borrowing was done without giving authority, the 
evidence of it was rather well-concealed. 

A question which occurs to one at the very beginning of 
the preparation of the material for this book, is — did the 
English travellers, as a whole, tell the truth about Amer- 
ica? By way of answer, one may trace a consistent de- 
velopment in the attitude of these observers. It is notice- 
able that in the days immediately following the Revolution, 
the general ideas entertained of the United States were 
unjust and untrue. Perhaps it was because so little was 
really known about America that writers like Parkinson, 
Weld, Janson, and Moore felt at liberty to let their im- 



344 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

agination wander where it would. Just after the begin- 
ning of the nineteenth century, a change becomes quite ap- 
parent to the reader of travel literature. One has an in- 
creasing sense of treading upon the firmer ground of fact 
rather than upon the quagmire of imagination and preju- 
dice. A book like Melish's ''Travels," for instance, is a 
landmark in this evolution of a correct idea of American 
life. It is true that writers like Fearon, Faux, and Welby 
come after this time, but we have also, in the second decade 
of the century, Duncan, Lambert, and Hodgson, all of 
whom are to be generally trusted. As time went on, the 
books of travel not only multiplied but became more and 
more reliable ; about 1830, we have a large number of more 
or less authentic accounts — those of Miss Martineau, 
Stuart, Coke, Ferrall, Vigne, Murray, and Hamilton, for 
instance. It is true that this last part of our period wit- 
nessed the publication of the works of Basil Hall and Mrs. 
Trollope, but these are to be regarded not as well-balanced 
and thoughtful accounts of American life, but rather as 
the product of two unfortunate dispositions. In regard to 
most matters, we may say that these later English travellers 
told the truth ; at least they were not palpably delighting in 
misrepresentation. 

The value of this travel literature, though it cannot be 
definitely estimated, is very real. If, as individuals, we are 
helped by the criticism of our friends or our enemies, we 
may expect as a nation to reap the same benefit from the 
opinions of those who came from other lands. Even the 
most prejudiced accounts contain some germs of truth. The 
effect on America of this vast bulk of English travel, and 
the part it played in the subsequent development of Ameri- 
can institutions can, of course, only be guessed at. At any 
rate, the detailed analysis of English attitude toward the 
United States in the critical fifty-year period after the 



CONCLUSION 345 

founding of the nation, cannot fail to make some contribu- 
tion to our knowledge of American conditions of the time, 
and to present in a new and interesting light many of the 
institutions which we Americans have come to take more or 
less for granted. 



ENGLISH TRAVEL IN AMERICA, 1785-1835 

Abdy^ Edward Strutt. Journal of a Residence and Tour in 
the United States of North America from April, 1833, to 
October, 1834. 3 vols. London, 1835.1 

Alexander, J. E. Transatlantic Sketches. 2 vols. London, 1833. ^ 

AsHE^ Thomas. Travels in America Performed in 1806 for the 
purpose of exploring the rivers Alleghany, Monongahela, 
Ohio and Mississippi, and ascertaining the produce and 
condition of their banks and vicinity. London, 1808. 

Baily, Francis. Journal of a Tour in unsettled parts of North \y^ 
America in 1796-1797. London, 1856. 

Bernard, John. Retrospections of America (1797-1811). Ed- ^_^^ 
ited from the manuscript by Mrs. Bayle Bernard, with an 
Introduction, Notes and Index by Laurence Hutton and 
Brander Matthews. New York, 1887. 

BiNGLEY, William. Travels in North America, from Modem 
Writers. With Remarks and Observations, Exhibiting a 
Connected View of the Geography and Present State of 
that Quarter of the Globe. London, 1821. 

BiRKBECK, Morris. Notes on a Journey in America from the 
coast of Virginia to the territory of Illinois. 2nd ed. 
London, 1818. 

. Letters from Illinois. London, 1818. 

Blane, William Newnham. An excursion through the United 
States and Canada during the years 1822-23. By an Eng- 
lish Gentleman. London, 1824. 

BoARDMAN, James. America and the Americans, by a Citizen 
of the World. London, 1833. 



348 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

Bradbury, John. Travels in the Interior of America, in the 
Years 1809, 1810, and 1811. 2nd ed. London, 1819. 

Bristed, John. The Eesources of the United States of Amer- 
ica; or, A View of the Agricultural, Commercial, Manu- 
facturing, Financial, Political, Literary, Moral, and Re- 
ligious Capacity and Character of the American People. 
New York, 1818. 

Brothers, Thomas. The United States as They Are: not as 
they are generally Described, being a cure for radicalism. 
London, 1840. 

Butler, Prances Anne. Journal (1832-1833). 2 vols. Lon- 
don, 1835. 

Candler, Isaac. A Summary View of America. London, 1824. 

Cobbett, Willum. a Year's Residence in the United States 
of America. 3rd ed. London, 1828. 

Coke, E. T. (Lieut.). A Subaltern's Furlough . . . during the 
summer and autumn of 1832. 2 vols. New York, 1833. 

Coke, Thomas. A Journal of the Rev. Dr. Coke's Fourth Tour ^ 
on the Continent of America. London, 1792. 

Cooper, Thomas. Some Information Respecting America. 
Dublin, 1794. ^ 

Cuming, F. Sketches of a Tour to the Western Country 
through the States of Ohio and Kentucky. Pittsburgh, 
1810. (Reprinted in R. G. Thwaites' Early Western Trav- 
els, Vol. X.) 

D ALTON, William. Travels in the United States of America 
and Part of Upper Canada. Appleby, 1821. 

D'Arusmont, Frances Wright. Views of Society and Manners 
in America: in a series of Letters from that Country to a 
Friend in England during the years 1818, 1819, and 1820. 
By an Englishwoman. New York, 1821. 

Davis, John. Travels of Four Years and a Half in the United 
States of America During 1798, 1799, 1800, 1801, and 1802. ^ 
London, 1803. 

Davis, Stephen. Notes of a Tour in America, in 1832 and 
1833. Edinburg, 1833. 



ENGLISH TRAVEL IN AMERICA, 1785-1835 349 

DeEoos, Frederick Fitzgerald. Personal Narrative of Travels 
in the United States and Canada in 1826. . . . With Ee- 
marks on the Present State of the American Navy. 3rd ed. 
London, 1827. 

DuHRiNG, Henry. Eemarks on the United States of America 
with regard to the actual state of Europe. London, 1833. 

Duncan^ John M. Travels through Part of the United States 
and Canada in 1818 and 1819. 2 vols. Glasgow, 1823. 

Faux, William. Memorable Days in America, Being a Journal 
of a Tour of the United States . . . (1818-1820). London, 
1823. (Thwaites' Early Western Travels, Vol. XL) 

Fearon, Henry Bradshaw. Sketches of America: a Narrative 
of a Journey of Five Thousand Miles through the Eastern 
and Western States of America. London, 1819. .. 

Ferrall, S. a. a Eamble of Six Thousand Miles through the 
United States of America. London, 1832. 

Fidler, Isaac. Observations on Professions, Literature, Man- 
ners and Emigration in the United States and Canada, 
made during a Eesidence there in 1832. New York, 1833. 

Finch, J. Travels in the United States of America and Canada. 
London, 1833. 

Flint, James. Letters from America. Edinburgh, 1822. 
(Thwaites' Early Western Travels, Vol. IX.) 

Flower, Eichard. Letters from Lexington and the Illinois. 
London, 1819. (Thwaites' Early Western Travels, Vol. X.) 

Fowler, John. Journal of a Tour in the State of New York 
in the Year 1830. London, 1831. 

Hall, Basil. Travels in North America in the Years 1827 and 
1828. 3 vols. 3rd ed. Edinburgh, 1830. 

Hall, Francis. Travels in Canada and the United States in 
1816 and 1817. Boston, 1818. 

Hamilton, Thomas. Men and Manners in America. 2 vols. 
Edinburgh, 1834. 

Harris, William Tell. Eemarks Made During a Tour through 
the United States of America in the Years 1817, 1818, and 
1819. In a series of Letters to Friends in England. Lon- 
don, 1821. 



350 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

Hodgson, Adam. Letters from North America, Written during 
a Tour in the United States and Canada. 2 vols. London, 
1824. 

Holmes, Isaac. An Account of the United States of America, 
Derived from Actual Observation during a Residence of 
Four Years. London, n. d. (1823). 

HowisoN, John. Sketches of Upper Canada. 3rd ed. Edin- 
burgh, 1825. 

HuLME, Thomas. A Journal Made during a Tour in the West- 
ern Countries of America, September 30, 1818-August 7, 
1819. (Reprinted from Cobbett's A Year's Residence in the 
United States of America. London, 1828. Thwaites' Early 
Western Travels, Vol. X.) 

Janson, Charles William. The Stranger in America. Lon- 
don, 1807. 

Kendall, Edward Augustus. Travels through the Northern 
Parts of the United States in the Years 1807 and 1808. 3 
vols. New York, 1809. 

Kingdom, William. America and the British Colonies. 2nd 
ed. London, 1820. 

Lambert, John. Travels through Canada and the United States 
of North America in the Years 1806, 1807, and 1808. 2 
vols. 3rd ed. London, 1816. 

Latrobe, Charles Joseph. The Rambler in North America 
(1832-1833). 2 vols. New York, 1835. 

Mackenzie, William Lyon. Sketches of Canada and the United 
States. London, 1833. 

Martineau, Harriet. Society in America. 2 vols. New York, 
1837. 

Matthews, W. Historical Review of North America, ... by 
a gentleman immediately returned from a tour of that 
country. 2 vols. Dublin, 1789. 

Maude, John. Visit to the Falls of Niagara in 1800. London, 
1826. 

Melish, John. Travels in the United States of America in the 
Years 1806 and 1807 and 1809, 1810 and 1811. 2 vols. 
Philadelphia, 1812. 



ENGLISH TRAVEL IN AMERICA, 1785-1835 351 

Moore, Thomas. "Poems Eelating to America" in Vol. II, 
"Poetical Works." Boston, 1856. 

Murray, Charles Augustus. Travels in North America dur- 
ing the Years 1834, 1835, and 1836. 2 vols. New York, 
1839. 

Neilson, Peter. Kecollections of a Six Years' Kesidence in 
the United States of America. Glasgow, 1830. 

OuSELEY, William Gore. Remarks on the Statistics and Polit- 
ical Institutions of the United States. London, 1832. 

Palmer, John. Journal of Travels in the United States of 
North America and in Lower Canada. London, 1818. 

Parkinson, Richard. A Tour in America in 1798, 1799, and 
1800. 2 vols. London, 1805. 

Pickering, Joseph. Inquiries of an Emigrant, being the nar- 
rative of an English farmer from the year 1824 to 1830. 
4th ed. London, 1832. 

Power, Tyrone. Impressions of America during the Years 1833, 
1834, and 1835. 2 vols. London, 1836. 

Priest, William. Travels in the United States of America; 
Commencing in the Year 1793 and Ending in 1797. Lon- 
don, 1802. 

Rich, Obadiah. Bibliotheca Americana Nova. London, 1835. 
A General View of the United States. 2nd ed. London, 
1836. 

Shirreff, Patrick. A Tour through North America; together 
with a Comprehensive View of the Canadas and United 
States. As Adapted for Agricultural Emigration. By- 
Patrick Shirreff, Farmer. Edinburgh, 1835. 

Sutcliffe, Robert. Travels in Some Parts of North America, 
1804, 1805, and 1806. York, 1811. 

Stuart, James. Three Years in North America. From the 
second London ed. 2 vols. New York, 1833. 

Trollope, Frances M. Domestic Manners of the Americans. 
Ed. by Harry Thurston Peck. 2 vols, in one. New York, 
1901. 



L^ 



352 THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN AMERICA 

Tudor, Henry. Narrative of a Tour in North America ... in 
a series of letters written in the Years 1831-32. 2 vols. 
London, 1834. 

Twining, Thomas. Travels in America One Hundred Years 
Ago. New York, 1894. 

ViGNE, Godfrey Thomas. Six Months in America. 2 vols. 
London, 1832. 

Wakefield, Priscilla Bell. Excursions in North America. 
Described in Letters from a Gentleman and his Young 
Companion to their Friends in England. London, 1806. 

Wansey, Henry. An Excursion to the United States of North 
America in the Summer of 1794. Salisbury, 1798. 

Welby, Adlard. a Visit to North America and the English 
Settlements in Illinois, with a Winter Kesidence at Phila- 
delphia. London, 1821. 

Weld, Isaac. Travels through the States of North America 
and the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada during the 
years 1795, 1796, and 1797. 2nd ed. London, 1799. 

Weston, Eichard. "A Visit to the United States and Canada 
in 1833; with a View to Settling in America." Glasgow, 
1836. 

Wilson, Charles Henry. The Wanderer in America, or Truth 
at Home. 4th ed. Thirsk, 1823. 

Winterbotham, William. An Historical, Geographical, Com- 
mercial and Philosophical View of the American United 
States. 4 vols. London, 1795. 

Woods, John. Two Years' Eesidence in the Settlement on the 
English Prairie in the Illinois Country. London, 1822. 
(Thwaites' Early Western Travels, Vol. X.) 



INDEX 



Abdy, Edward Strutt, experience 
in stagecoach, 78; on early mar- 
riages, 98; on American family 
life, 106-107; visits insane asy- 
lum, 113; on amalgamation of 
negro and white races, 124, 125; 
on education in the United 
States, 203-204; on Yale Col- 
lege, 214-215; visits Dr. Chan- 
ning, 260; on Universalists, 262, 
305 ; on American love of money, 
310; on American hospitality, 
317-318; 338; 340 

Academies, 209 

African Repository, The, on the 
negro, 134 

Agriculture, Necessity for, 149; in- 
terest in, 150 

"Airs of Palestine," criticised, 223 

Alabama, rich land in, 158 

Alexander, J. E., on American so- 
ciety, 97 

Allibone, Samuel, on Walsh's "An 
Appeal from the Judgments of 
Great Britain," 279 

Allston, Washington, 239 

Almshouses, 108-109 

American Bible Society, The, 251- 
252 

American books of advice to emi- 
grants, 31-32 

"American Chesterfield, The," 78 



American Annals of Education, 
The, quoted by Abdy, 203-204 

American Monthly Review, The, 
226 

American Museum, The, tells story 
of cruelty to slaves, 135 

American Philosophical Society, 
The, discusses cause of poor 
teeth among Americans, 90; 238 

Annapolis, Reason for neglect of, 
as trading port, 190 

Anomaly of slavery in a free coun- 
try, 122 

Apathy in citizenship, 329 

Ark, Description of the Ohio River, 
36 

Army, Expense of the American, 
195-196 

Arts, American progress in, 238- 
240 

Ashe, Thomas, interested in ar- 
chaeology, 10; 26; 271; 272 

Atheists, Scarcity of, in America, 
247-249 

Athenaeum, The, at Boston, the 
finest library in the country, 237 

Attachment, Lack of local, 319-320 

Attitude, American, toward trav- 
ellers, 61-63; 316-318 

Auburn prison, 117; system of, 
118-119; espionage at, 119-120 



353 



354 



INDEX 



Awkwardness in social forms, Rea- 
sons for, 66-67 

"Backwoodsman, The," criticised, 

224 
Bally, Francis, 9, 16; penetrates 

wilderness east of the Missis- 
sippi River, 22; 337 
Baltimore, Prettiest women seen 

in, 89; as a trading port, 190; 

"headquarters of Catholicism," 

261 
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, The, 

24 
Banks, Increase in number of, 200- 

201 (See also United States 

Bank) 
Baptists, 262-263 
Barlow, Joel, "The Columbiad," 

criticised, 223; 225; 274; 278; 

282 
Beggars, Lack of, 28 
Bernard, John, becomes stage man- 
ager in America, 8, 16; remarks 

on condition of American stage, 

233-234; 235 
Biddle, Richard, "Captain Hall in 

America," 289 
Blngley, William, 16 n., 341 
Bird, Robert M., "The Gladiator" 

acted, 235 
Birkbeck, Morris, experiments with 

Flower in the English Prairie, 

5-6, 294-295; on price of crops 

in the West, 160; opposition to, 

295-297; 310; 343 
Blackicood's Magazine, on Faux, 

15; on Mrs. Trollope, 292 
Blair, Hugh, Popularity of, 219 
Blane, William N"., comments on 

the English Prairie, 6; sympa- 



thetic attitude toward America, 
12; 17; 22; uses Cumberland 
Road, 24; on the negro, 140-141; 
on paper money, 199; on the 
Waverley novels, 218-219; 247; 
on the Jews, 266; 286; on the 
difference between the North and 
the South, 300-301; on Ameri- 
can lack of gaiety, 319 

Boardman, James, 74; on f reed- 
men, 125 ; on American news- 
papers, 228-229; on pronuncia- 
tion, 242; on Unitarians, 259; 
340 

Books, English, most in demand 
in the United States, 218-219; 
reprints of English, 218; poor 
quality of American, 220-221 

Booksellers, Influence of the Amer- 
ican, 220 

Boone's Trail, 24 

Boston, Distinctive character of, 
71 ; women the best educated, 
93; as a trading port, 183; 
schools in, 204-205 

Bradbury, John, explores the Mis- 
souri, 22; advises emigrants, 34; 
38; defends American hospital- 
ity, 61; on domestic manufac- 
tures in the West, 167; on min- 
ing, 176; 337; 340 

Braddock's Road, oldest thorough- 
fare to the West, 23 

Bribery in American politics, 325 

Bridges, Lack of, 52; poor quality 
of, 52-53 

Brlsted, John, "Resources of Amer- 
ica," 11; 165; statistics on ex- 
port trade, 183; on American 
trade with Great Britain, 185; 
on the cost of the Revolution, 



INDEX 



355 



197; on American colleges, 211; 
quotes Buffon's theory, 216; on 
American literature, 216, 219; on 
American fiction, 223; on Amer- 
ica's progress in arts, 239-240; 
on atheism, 249; on American 
national vanity, 304; quotes 
President Monroe, 306; on lot- 
teries, 313; on lack of local at- 
tachment, 319; 330; 343 

Brothers, Thomas, an enthusiastic 
detractor, 15; attacks Philadel- 
phia almshouse, 110 

Brown, Charles Brockden, 223 

Brown, Samuel R., "The Western 
Gazetteer," 68 ; 342 

Bryant, William Cullen, 223 

Bulwer-Lytton, Popularity of, 219 

Burnaby, Andrew, 276 

Byron, Lord, Popularity of, 218 

Campmeetings, 264-265 

Canada, Approximate number of 
visitors to, 19; buying of, proph- 
esied, 334 

Candler, Isaac, "Summary View 
of America," 12; 16; makes pe- 
destrian journey, 46; 48; 62; on 
smoking, 72-73; on moral pur- 
ity of American conversation, 
81; on amalgamation of negro 
and white races, 124; on Irving, 
222; on American slang, 241; on 
American pronunciation, 242 ; on 
Catholics, 262 ; on Jews, 266 ; on 
national vanity, 302-303; 315; 
on American hospitality, 317 

Carey and Lea's publishing house, 
220 

Carlyle, Influence of, 219 

Catholics. 261-262 



"Chancellor Livington" steamboat, 
53 

Channing, W. E., 127; as a 
preacher, 259-260 

Character, American, Tradition of 
uniformity of, 299; diversity of, 
299-301 

Charleston, Popularity of, 68; or- 
phan asylum in, 110; as a trad- 
ing port, 190-191; schools in, 
207 

Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, The, 
24 

Children, Precocity of American, 
83-84; 310 

Choice of routes on landing in New 
York, 18; of routes to the West, 
22-24 

Christmas Day in America, 85 

Church, Possible results of lack of 
an established, 246; variety of 
forms of, in America, 255 flf. 

Cincinnati, Importance of, as man- 
ufacturing city, 175 

Circuit Riders, 251-252 

Classes of people encouraged to 
emigrate, 37-39 

Classics, Attitude toward, in Amer- 
ican colleges, 212 

Clay, Henry, on the colonization 
scheme, 133 

Clergy, Usurpation of college 
chairs by, 211; effect on litera- 
ture of ignorance of, 217; cir- 
cumstances surrounding, 252 ; 
income of, 252-253; lack of edu- 
cation of, 254 ; social segregation 
of, 254-255; influence of, 255; 
exclusion of, from official posi- 
tions, 328 



356 



INDEX 



Climate, Sudden changes of, 31; 
enervating in South, 39 

Coachee, Description of, 48-49 

Cobbett, William, on drunkenness, 
74; on pauperism, 109; on the 
American farm laborer, 152; 
276 ; attacks the English Prairie, 
295-296; defends American civil- 
ity, 3U6-30/; 309 

Coke, Lieutenant E. T., attends 
theatre at Philadelphia, 232; 
235; on the American language, 
240; on income of clergy, 253; 
on Captain Hall's booK, 290; 
292; 344 

Colden, Cadwallader D., "Life of 
Fulton," 281 

Coleridge, S. T., 219 

College, Inferiority of the Ameri- 
can, 210-212; curriculum of, 210- 
212; American attitude toward, 
211; William and Mary, 212- 
213; Harvard, 213-214; Yale, 
214-215; other colleges, 215 

Colonization Society, 131-134; op- 
position to, by negroes, 132; by 
whites, 133-134; real purpose of, 
134 

Columbia College, Description of, 
215 

Congregationalists, Nature of wor- 
ship of, 260; prevalence of, in 
Boston, 261 

Connecticut, Land in, 154; cotton 
mills in, 169-170; woolen mills 
in Hartford, 172; education in, 
205-206 

Conservatism, American, 314-315 

Conversation, American, Tone of, 
78-80; limitations of, 78-79; ped- 
antry among women, 79 ; lack of 



repartee in, 79; native wit in, 
79 ; well-informed quality of, 79 ; 
brevity of Western speech, 80; 
moral purity of, 81; profanity 
in, 82; inquisitiveness in, 82-83 

Cooking, Poor quality of Ameri- 
can, 104 

Cooper, James Fenimore, Criticism 
of, 223; 253; 283 

Cooper, Thomas, first great Ameri- 
can tragedian, 235 

Cooper, Thomas, 6; 27; 30; 48; 
33; 71; describes typical Ameri- 
can farm, 151; on the price of 
land, 164; on the manuiacture of 
military supplies, 173; on Amer- 
ican literature, 216; on Ameri- 
can hospitality, 316 

Copyright, Complaint concerning, 
221 

Cost of board in America, 60-61 ; 
of passage to America, 34; of 
travel in America, 35-36; by 
stagecoach, 48 ; by steamboat, 
53-54 

Cotton, Profit in growing, 157; 
ease of growing, 157-158; manu- 
factories in New England, 169, 
171-172; cheapness of, 171-172 

Coxe, Tench, "View of the United 
States of America," 342 

Crevecoeur, Hector St. J., 135 n. 

Crime, Absence of, in United 
States, 114-115; 313 

Crops, in Pennsylvania, 155-156; 
in the West, 160 

Cumberland Road, The, 24 

Currency, System of, 198; neces- 
sity for new, 198 

*'Cut money," 200 



INDEX 



357 



Dalton, William, quotes Philadel- 
phia police record, 114-115; vis- 
its Philadelphia penitentiary, 
117; visits Auburn prison, 118; 
on banks, 201 ; on increase of 
Baptists, 262; on American in- 
dependence, 308 

Dancing, American interest in, 95- 
96 

Darby, William, "The Emigrant's 
Guide," 32; "Louisiana," 32; 
342; "View of the United 
States," 342 

D'Arusmont, Frances Wright, 12; 
16; praises lot of farmer, 151; 
organizes "Workies," 179; as 
promoter of religious infidelity, 
248-249; criticised by The Quar- 
terly Review, 284 ; 328 ; 343 

Davis, John, 9; makes pedestrian 
journey, 46; 281; on American 
lack of gaiety, 318-319 

Debt, National, Reduction of the, 
197-198 

Delaware, Land in, 156 

De Roos, F. Fitzgerald, 7-8; 96; 
attends Episcopal Church, 256; 
defends Americans, 286; on pau- 
perism, 328-329 

Destiny, Importance of, of United 
States, 321 

Details, Lack of, of American life 
in travel literature, 337-338 

Diderot, 219 

Dishonesty, Commercial, of Amer- 
icans, 311-312 

Disparity of interests in different 
parts of United States, 329-331 

Dress, Women's foolish, 91-92; of 
country girls, 102; of men, 102- 
103; of both sexes, 102-103 



Driver of stagecoach, Description 
of, 49; importance of, 49; good 
nature of, 49 

Duels, in New Orleans, 69; Timo- 
thy Flint on, 70; 314 

Duncan, John, on American chil- 
dren, 83; at funeral, 87; on 
death rate by consumption, 91; 
on Harvard College, 214, 227; 
on American use of words, 243; 
describes American Sunday 
Schools, 251; on universal suf- 
frage, 326; 340; 344 

Dutch Reformed Church, 265 

Dwight, Timothy, 153; 225; "Re- 
marks on the Review of Inchi- 
quin the Jesuit's Letters," 277- 
278 

Eastburn's publishing house, 220 

Edgeworth, Maria, Popularity of, 
218, 219 

Edinburgh Review, The, on Ameri- 
can literature, 225; 226; discus- 
ses Janson, Ashe and Parkinson, 
273-274 ; criticised by T. Dwight, 
277; 280; defends itself against 
Walsh, 282 ; ridicules Mrs. Trol- 
lope, 292 

Education (See also Schools), Uni- 
versality of, in the United 
States, 203; in New England, 
204-205; cheapness of, in Massa- 
chusetts, 205; in Connecticut, 
205-206; in New York, 206; in 
Pennsylvania, 206; in the South, 
206-207; in the West, 207-208; 
practical nature of American, 
207-208; in the home, 208; Lan- 
castrian system of, 208-209 



358 



INDEX 



Elections, Frequency of, 65-66; de- 
fects of, 323-324 

Emancipation, Problems of, 145- 
148; dangers of sudden, 145-146; 
suggestions for, 146-148 

Emigration, Reasons for, 26-29; 
arguments against, 29-31 

English Prairie, The, 5-6; contro- 
versy concerning, 294-297 

Engraving, Excellence of Ameri- 
can, 240 

Episcopalians, 256-258 

Equality, Spirit of, 64-65; 306-307 

Erie Canal, The, 18-19, 24, 39, 53, 
154, 303 

Espionage in prisons, 119-120 

Executives, Attitude toward, 326- 
327 

Export Trade, American, Freedom 
of, 182; variety of, 182-183; 
value of, 183-184 

Factory girls, in Lowell, 170-171; 
purity of morals of, 171 ; in New 
York State, 174 

Family, the typical American, 
100-102; good feeling in, 106-107 

Farmer, Importance of the, 151- 
152; general difficulties of the, 
152-153; in the West, 160 

Farm labor, overstocked in the 
East, 30-31; 101; excellence of, 
152 

Faux, William, Criticism of, by 
Blackwood's, 15, 284; 30; on the 
effects of drinking cold water, 
74-75; on Birkbeck's land, 161; 
on the tariff, 194; praised by The 
Quarterly, 284-285 ; attacks Eng- 
lish Prairie, 296; on American 



independence, 308-309; on Amer- 
ican dishonesty, 312; 344 

Fearon, Henry B,, 4-5; 17; uses 
Cumberland Road, 24; 30; 42; on 
redemptioners, 45 ; on the steam- 
boat, 53; 61; on American re- 
serve, 65, 80; on the abuse of 
freedmen, 124-125; on Western 
emigration, 159; on price of 
wheat, 160; on price of land, 
163; on manufactures in Pitts- 
burgh, 173-174; on trades, 178; 
on labor discontent, 178; on the 
tariff, 193; on paper money, 199; 
218; on "Salmagundi Papers," 
222; on behavior at the theatre, 
233; attacked by Walsh, 280; 
attacks J^nglish Prairie, 296-297; 
343; 344. 

Fences, Varieties of, 161-162 

Ferrall, S. A., 14; 54; describes 
American fences, 162; on agra- 
rian "Workies," 179; on the 
national debt, 197-198; visits 
Lancastrian schools, 209; on re- 
ligious infidelity, 248-249; 344 

Fidler, Rev. Isaac, 6; on high 
price of board, 61 ; tries to estab- 
lish school of Eastern languages, 
212; tells why American clergy- 
men do not sit in Congress, 338- 
339; 340 

Fifth of July celebration, 85 

Financial system. Admiration of, 
among Englishmen, 195; cheap- 
ness of, 195; efficiency of, 196 

Finch, J., visits Columbia College, 
215 

First Day or Sunday School Soci- 
ety, earliest form of American 
Sunday School, 250 



INDEX 



359 



Fires, Frequency of, 100 

Flatboat, 52 

Flint, James, on the backwoods 
tavern, 60; on American hos- 
pitality, 61-62; on manners in 
the West, 69-70; on American 
profanity, 82; on men's dress, 
102; 152; on mechanics, 177; on 
price of labor, 178; on paper 
money, 199; on banks in Ken- 
tucky, 200-201 ; on national van- 
ity, 305; on fondness for titles, 
307-308; 309; on disparity of 
interests, 330-331; prophesies 
prosperity of the Union, 333-334 

Flint, Timothy, on duelling, 70 ; 342 

Flower, George, experiment of the 
English Prairie, 5, 294-297 

Flower, Richard, "Letters from 
Lexington and the Illinois" criti- 
cised by The Quarterly, 284; re- 
futes Cobbett, 296 

Food (See also Meals), Effect of 
heavy or animal, 59 ; abundance 
of, at inns, 59 ; effect of too great 
a variety of, 91; lack of serious 
interest in, 104; abundance of, 
in home, 103-104 

Forbes' Road, 23 

Formal intercourse, 96-97 

Forrest, Edwin, "The Roscius of 
America," 235 

Fourth of July celebrations, 84-85 

Fowler, John, 74; on New York 
land, 154; on price of land, 164; 
on the salt industry in New 
York, 174-175; on the Society 
Library, 237; 309-310; 337 

Franklin, Benjamin, "Information 
to Those Who Would Remove to 
America, 31; 33; 225 



Franklin Library, The, 236 
"Fredoniad, The," criticised, 224 
Free Masons, longest funeral 

trains, 87 
French books read in America, 219- 

220 
Friends (See Quakers) 
"Frolics," 104-105 
Funerals, American, 87-88 

Gaiety, lack of, among Americans, 
318-319 

Genesee Road, The, 18, 19 

"Geographical, Historical, Com- 
mercial and Agricultural View 
of the United States," 341 

Georgia,, Poor land in, 158; domes- 
tic manufacture in, 167; trade 
of, 190-191; education in, 207 

Gold, Discovery of, in the South, 
177 

Good humor of Americans, 318 

"Gouging," practiced in the West, 
69-70; 301 

Government, Unifying influence of 
the, 320 ; defects in the policy of, 
323-327; relation of legislative 
and executive, 326; relation of 
state and Federal, 327; predicted 
changes in, 332 ; ideal quality of, 
334-335 

Grammar, American carelessness 
in, 241 

Hall, Captain Basil, 11; arch- 
traitor to American hospitality, 
12; 52; 61; 68; 76; on social in- 
tercourse of men and women, 96- 
97; 109; on houses of refuge, 
111; on cheapness of American 
prison system, 150; on pardons, 



360 



INDEX 



120-121; altercation on American 
pronunciation, 241-242; on Shak- 
ers, 268; "Travels in America," 
287-288; criticism of, 288-290; 
291; 302; on American hospital- 
ity, 316; 326; 343; 344 

Hall, Lieutenant Francis, 11-12; 
on roads, 50; on reserve of 
American women, 94; praises lot 
of the farmer, 151; on Irving, 
222; 286; 313-314; on American 
hospitality, 316-317; on Ameri- 
can gravity, 318; on influence 
of government, 320; 343 

Hall, Judge James, 25, 222 

Hamilton, Captain Thomas, 14; 
on the American inn, 56-57 ; on 
reserve, 65; on Boston women, 
93; on houses of refuge. 111; 
visits insane asylum, 113; on 
freedmen in the North, 123-124; 
on necessity for slavery in the 
South, 126; on University of 
Pennsylvania, 215; on lack of 
literary taste, 218; on use of 
words, 244; attends Episcopal 
church, 256 ; on Unitarians, 258 ; 
on Methodists, 263-264 ; on stand- 
ard of morality, 314; on con- 
servatism, 314-315; on lack of 
gaiety, 318; on political rela- 
tions of the United States, 320; 
on state representation, 324- 
325; on "Workies," 328; 339; 
344 

Harmony, Indiana, Rich land in, 
161; home of Rapp's community, 
269 

Harris, William Tell, "Remarks 
Made During a Tour . . ." crit- 
icised, 283-284 



Harvard College, 213-214; 227; 
Unitarianism in, 259 

Hemans, Mrs., Popularity of, 219 

Hodgson, Adam, 30-31; on drunk- 
enness, 74; on sleighing parties, 
86-87; on cruelty to slaves, 135- 
136; on tobacco-growing in Vir- 
ginia, 157; on price of crops, 
160; on domestic manufacture, 
167; on manufacture, 172-173; 
on "bank mania," 201; on Uni- 
tarianism, 259; 286 

Holidays, American, 84-86 

Holmes, Abiel, "American Annals," 
criticised, 271 

Holmes, Isaac, on American ships, 
185; 193; on the financial sys- 
tem, 196; on paper money, 199; 
on schools, 209; on Samuel 
Woodworth, 224 

Hospitality, American, 316-317 

Hospitals, 111-112 

Houses of refuge. 111 

Howison, John, 77; visits cotton 
mill at Utica, New York, 174; 
on behavior of Americans at the 
theatre, 232-233; on libraries, 
237; on Trumbull's paintings, 
239; 344 

Hulbert, A. B., "Historic High- 
ways," 23 

Hulme, Thomas, "Journal" used by 
Cobbett, 296 

Hunt, Gaillard, 113 

Hunter, John D., "Captivity among 
the Indians," criticised, 224 

Illinois, Superior advantages of, 

42-43; richness of, 161 
Imlay, Gilbert, cited as authority, 

342 



INDEX 



361 



Import trade, American, Statistics 
of, 183; variety of, 184 

Inchbald, Mrs., 231 

"Inchiquin the Jesuit's Letters," 
274-275; Remarks on, by The 
Quarterly, 275-276; 281 

Independence, American, 306-309 

Independents ( See Congregation- 
alists) 

Indians, Early Fear of, as deter- 
rent to emigration, 29; money 
paid by the government to, 196 

Ingersoll, C. Jared, 274 

Innkeeper, Indifference of the 
American, 57; importance of, 59 

Inns, American, Inconvenience of, 
55-56 

Inquisitiveness, American, 82 

Insane, Treatment of the, 112-113; 
asylums for, 113-114 

Intemperance, Emigrant advised 
against, 37; theories of Ameri- 
can, 37, 74, 75; frequency of 
bars, 59 ; lack of actual drunken- 
ness, 74; widespread prevalence 
of, 74; ease with which liquor 
was obtained, 75; conviviality in 
South, 75-76; cause of increase 
in pauperism, 109 

Interstate slave trade, 137-140 

Irish, redemptioners, 44-45; inhab- 
itants of Virginia and Kentucky 
compared to, 69 

Iroquois Trail, The, 18 

Irving, Washington, Criticisms of, 
221-222; 225; "English Writers 
on America," 285 

Jackson, President, refuses to re- 
new charter of the United States 
Bank, 201-202 



Janson, Charles William, on drunk- 
enness, 74; on American women, 
94; on Sunday in the Carolinas, 
249; 271-272; 343-344 

Jealousy, Sectional, 24, 331 

Jefferson, Thomas, quoted on slav- 
ery, 141-142; on the dangers of 
a manufacturing class, 165 ; Em- 
bargo Act, 186; on William and 
Mary College, 212; considered 
an authority on literature, 315; 
342 

Jews in the United States, 255, 
266 

Johnson, Samuel, 219 

Keel boat, The, 53 

Kemble, Frances, 16; d^but in 
New York, 232 

Kendall, Edward Augustus, visits 
prison in old copper mine, 115; 
visits Maine, 336; discusses con- 
stitution of Connecticut, 339 

Kennedy, John P., 222 

Kentucky, Insecurity of land titles 
in, 41; uncivilized character of 
inhabitants of, 41; prevalence of 
fever in, 41-42; slavery in, 42; 
good climate of, 160-161; fine 
quality of land in, 163; center 
of hemp industry, 175; other in- 
dustries in, 175; paper money 
in, 199; banks in, 200-201 

Kindness of Americans to one an- 
other, 315-316; to strangers, 313- 
314, 316-317 

Kingdom, William, "America and 
the British Colonies," 340-341 

Lamb, Charles, 219 
Lambert, John, on turnpikes, 51- 
52; 55-56; 60-61; on poor teeth, 



362 



INDEX 



90; on orphan asylums, 110; on 
importation of slaves, 129; cites 
instance of cruelty to slaves, 
135; on hiring out of slaves, 
138; on Long Embargo, 186-187; 
on trade of South Carolina, 190- 
191; on "Salmagundi Papers," 
221-222; on cost of newspapers, 
228; on advertisements, 230; on 
salary of clergymen, 253; on 
Congregationalists, 261 ; on 
Jews, 266 
Lancastrian system of public 

schools, 208-209 
Land, Price of government, 26-27; 
cheapness of, 30; system of pub- 
lic, 150; method of working, 150- 
151; care of, 153-154; in New 
England, 154; in New York 
State, 154-155; in Pennsylvania, 
155-156; in Delaware and New 
Jersey, 156; in the South, 156- 
157; in the West, 159-161; price 
of, 162-164 
Language, American, Beliefs con- 
cerning, 240; uniformity of, 241; 
carelessness in, 241 ; changes 
made in, 241-245 
Latrobe, Charles Joseph, 22; on 
future of mechanic arts, 179- 
180; on diversity of American 
character, 300; on national van- 
ity, 305; on importance of the 
United States, 321 
Laws, Difference in state, 331 
Lectures, Popularity of, 237-238 
Libraries, American, 236-237 
Literature, American, English opin- 
ion of, 215-218; obstacles to, 216- 
217; effect of inferior education 
on, 217-218; scanty evidences of, 



221; poor quality of American 
novels, 222-223 

Local histories, Excellence of 
American, 224-225 

Log house, earliest form of Ameri- 
can habitation, 100 

Long, John, "Expedition to the 
Rocky Mountains," criticised, 
224 

Long Embargo, The, 166; effects 
of, 186-187 

Long Island, Prosperity of, 155 

Lotteries, Prevalence of, 313 

Louisiana, Growing of cotton and 
sugar in, 158-159 

Lounging, American habit of, 77-78 

Lowell, the best-known manufac- 
turing city in the United States, 
170 

Loyalsock Creek, English colony 
on, 39-40 

Lynn, Shoe trade in, 172 

Maine, as place of settlement, 39; 
seldom visited, 336 

"Manfred," 218 

Manners, Local differences in, 67; 
in the South, 67-69 ; in Kentucky 
and Virginia, 69-70; reason for 
demoralization of, in the West, 
70-71; in cities of the East, 71; 
among rural classes in the East, 
71-72; at table, 78 

Manufacture, in early period after 
the Revolution, 29-30; early at- 
titude toward, 164-166; Jeffer- 
son's remarks on, 165; later ne- 
cessity for, 166; in the home, 
166-168; English attitude to- 
ward, 168-169; scarcity of, in 
the South, 175-176; value of, 176 



INDEX 



363 



Marriage, Early, 97-98; civil na- 
ture of, 97 ; encouragement to, 98 

Marshall, John, 224, 225, 274, 282 

Martineau, Harriet, 13; 16; ex- 
plores unsettled region, 21, 22; 
on roads, 50; 56; on New Eng- 
land manners, 72; on spitting, 
73; pleads for more interests 
for women, 92; 99; on paupers, 
109-110; visits Auburn prison, 
119-120; Iz/; 166; visits Lowell, 
170; visits factory in Richmond, 
176; on trade, 183; on Salem, 
187-188; on popularity of Eng- 
lish novels, 219; on Irving, 222; 
on Sunday observance, 250; on 
American clergy, 253-254; on 
Presbyterians, 261 ; on Catho- 
lics, 262; 316; on jtimerican hos- 
pitality, 317; on moral effect of 
slavery, 322-323; on apathy in 
citizenship, 329; 344 

Maryland, Poor land in, 156; 
schools in, 206 

Massachusetts, Trade in, 187-188 
(See also New England) 

Matthews, W,, "Historical Review 
of North America ..." 2 

Meals (See also Food), Lack of 
privacy at, 57-58; description 
of, 58, 59; as the cause of Amer- 
ican diseases, 59; plentiful, at 
inns, 59; in the home, 103-104 

Mechanic, Importance of the, 177- 
178; wages of, 178; discontent 
of, 178-179; future of mechanic 
arts, 179-180 

Medicine, Ignorance of. 111 

Ivielish, John, 7; 20; on xxew Eng- 
land land, 154; on Georgia land. 



158; 161; on manufacture in the 
home, 167-168; on manufacture, 
169; on cheapness of cotton, 171- 
172; on manufactures in Penn- 
sylvania, 173-174; on price of 
labor, 178; on trade in Massa- 
chusetts, 187; on trade in New 
York City, 189; on Virginia 
trade, 190; on Maryland trade, 
190; on South Carolina trade, 
191; on Georgia trade, 191; on 
education in South, 206-207; on 
newspapers, 227; on the Frank- 
lin Library, 236; 237; 286; on 
American commercial dishonesty, 
312-313; 333; 340; as an author- 
ity, 342-343; 344 

Methodists, Customs at funerals 
of, 87; 263-264 

Milton, John 219 

Mining, Early lack of interest in, 
176; unlimited possibilities of, 
177 

Missouri region. Possibilities of, 
42 

Money, 37; American love of, 309- 
313 

Moore, Thomas, 218, 276, 343 

Morals, Standard of American, 
95; 314 

Moravians, 266 

More, Mrs. Hannah, Popularity of, 
219 

Morgan, Lady, 218 

Mormons, 266-267 

Morse, Jedidiah, 342 

Motives for coming to America, 
3-13 

Motives for writing books of 
travel, 14-17 



364 



INDEX 



Murray, Charles Augustus, 13-14; 
on Charleston, 68 j on emanci- 
pation of slaves, 148; visite 
Lowell mills, 170; on American 
education, 210; on increase of 
Catholics, 262; on Universalists, 
262; on fondness for titles, 307; 
on American hospitality, 317; 
344 

Museums, Americans, 236 

Napoleonic Wars, Effects of, 3-5 

Natural Bridge, Side trips to the, 
21 

Navy, Cost of, 196 

Negro (See also Slavery), Condi- 
tion of, in North, 123-125; amal- 
gamation of, with w^hite race, 
124; fear of, 126-128; legislation 
against, 127-131; scheme of 
transporting, 131-134; defense 
of intellect of, 140-141, 260 

Neilson, Peter, on advertisements 
in newspapers, 230 

New England, Land in, 154; fur- 
nishes largest proportion of fac- 
tory girls, 166; particularly 
adapted to manufacture, 169; 
cotton mills in, 169-170; other 
factory industries in, 172-173; 
education in, 204-205; obser- 
vance of Sunday in, 249-250; 
Unitarianism in, 258, 259 

New Englanders in the West, 70, 
191, 247 

New Jersey, as a place of settle- 
ment, 39; land in, 156 

New Orleans, Unhealthfulness of, 
41; fascination of, 41; 68-69; 
importance of, 192 



Newport, Reason for neglect of, 
as trading port, 183 

Newspapers, Interest in, 225, 227; 
number of, in the United States, 
227-228; contents of, 228-229; 
virulence of, 229; advertise- 
ments in, 229-230 

New Year's Day, Celebration of, 
85-86 

New York City, as a trading port, 
189 

New York State, as place of set- 
tlement, 39; abolition of slavery 
in, 123; one of two leading 
states, 154; domestic manufac- 
ture in, 167; manufactures in, 
174-175; education in, 206 

Niagara Falls, 19 

Niles' Weekly Register, urges 
scheme for expatriation of fe- 
male negroes, 147 

Norfolk, as a trading port, 189-190 

North American Review, The, 
Criticism of, 226-227; on Jan- 
son, 272; defends "Inchiquin's 
Letters," 276-277; defends 
Walsh, 282-283; exposes Faux, 
285; criticises Captain Hall, 
288-289; on Mrs. Trollope, 294 

North Carolina, schools in, 207; 
Sunday observance in, 249 

Ohio country. Advantages and 

drawbacks of the, 40-41 
Ohio River, Importance of, 23; 

bad reputation of settlers along, 

301 
Opie, Mrs., 218 
Organ, in Episcopal churches, 257; 

largest in Catholic Cathedral 

in Baltimore, 261 



INDEX 



365 



Orphan asylums, 110-111 

Chiseley, William Gore, on the fi- 
nancial system, 195-196; on sal- 
ary of clergy, 252-253; on Mrs. 
Trollope, 293; work based on 
government records, 342 

Palmer, John, 33; 40; on redemp- 
tioners, 46; on "Chancellor Liv- 
ingston," 53; on dress in Phila- 
delphia, 102-103; on social life, 
105-106; on price of wheat in 
Maryland, 160; on Illinois land, 
161; on price of farm land, 163 

Paper money, Flooding of country 
with, 198-199; inconvenience of, 
199 

Parkinson, Richard, on redemp- 
tioners, 44; 271; 276; 340; 343 

Parsimony, American, 310 

Paulding, James K., 224; exposes 
Janson, 272; 278-279; 283; 285; 
290; 299 

Paupers, Care of, 108, 109; in- 
crease of, 109; few native, 109- 
110; increase of, feared, 328- 
329 

Peale's Museum, 106, 236 

Penitentiary system, Institution of 
the, 115; failure of early at- 
tempts, 116-117; Philadelphia, 
117-118; Auburn, 118-119 

Pennsylvania, Advantages of, as 
place of settlement, 39-40; insti- 
gator of humane policies, 114; 
institutes penitentiary system, 
115; one of two leading states, 
155; land in, 155-156; domestic 
manufactures in, 167; manufac- 
ture of firearms in, 173; flour 
mills in, 173; education in, 206 



Pennsylvania Canal, The, 25 
Pennsylvania Railroad, The, 23, 25 
Percival, James G., 223-224 
Periodicals, Poor quality of, 226; 

list of, 226 
Philadelphia, Distinctive character 

of, 71; charitable activities of, 
110; penitentiary system of, 115- 

118; as trading port, 188-189 
Pickering, Joseph, "Inquiries of an 

Emigrant ..." 5 : 33 
Pitkin, Timothy, "Statistical View 

of North America," 342 
Pittsburg, called '"Birmingham," 

173; manufactures in, 173-174 
"Planters," in the Mississippi 

River, 54 
Poetry, Poor quality of American, 

223-224 
Political pamphlets, Quality of 

American, 225-226 
Politics, Interest in, 54, 79; lack 

of discussion of, by English 

travellers, 339 
Porter, Jane, Popularity of, 218 
Portfolio, The, 226 
Jr'ower, Tyrone, 13; 16; 158; plays 

in New York, 231; 233; on 

American actresses, 235 
Prairie, Theories in regard to the, 

161 
Presbyterians, 260, 261 
Price, of produce, 160; of land, 

162-164; of mechanic labor, 178 
Priest, William, on redemptioners, 

44-45; on sleighing parties, 86; 

on American manufactures, 168; 

on trade of Philadelphia, 188- 

189; on Annapolis as a trading 

port, 190; on currency system, 

198; 276 



366 



INDEX 



Primogeniture, Lack of, 65; evil8 
of lack of, 328 

Princeton College, not much vis- 
ited by travellers, 215 

Prisons, Condition of early, 115; 
development of, 115-120; cheap- 
ness of system of, 120; frequency 
of pardons, 120-121; free educa- 
tion in, 120 

Provisions for voyage to America. 
34-35 



Reviews, Lack of good, 220 

Revivals, 264 

Rhode Island, cotton mills in, 169 

Rich, Obadiah, on American peri- 
odicals, 226 ; criticises Mrs. Trol- 
lope, 290-291 

Roads, Poor quality of, 50-51; 
method of building, 50; cordu- 
roy or gridiron, 48, 51; later 
neglect of, 52 

Rousseau, 219 



Quakers, longest funeral trains, 
87 ; gratify love for beauty, 102 ; 
dress of, 102; establish first 
almshouse, 108; 265-266 

Quarterly Review, The, 222; 226; 
reviews Holmes' "American An- 
nals," 271-273; reviews "Inch- 
iquin's Letters," 275-276; criti- 
cised by T. Dwight, 277; ridicu- 
lous statements of, 278; 280; 
283-284; praises Mrs. Trollope, 
292; denounces Birkbeck, 205; 
208; on American character, 299 

Ramsay, David, "History of the 
United States," criticised, 224 

Rappites, 268-269 

Redemptioners, 44-46 

Religion, American attitude to- 
ward, 246-248; 255-256; scarcity 
of atheists, 248-249; conserva- 
tism in, 269; 314 

Representation, Defects of, 324-325 

Reserve, of landlord's family, 59, 
62, 65-66; of women, 94; prob- 
able cause of, 65; 94 

Revenue, Sources of, 192, 196; 
value of, 196; criticism of, 196- 
197 



Salem, Commercial importance of, 

187-188 
"Salmagundi Papers, The," Crit- 
icism of, 221-222 
Salt, Manufacture of, in New York 

State, 174-175 
Saratoga Springs, a fashionable 

resort, 19-20 
"Sawyers" in the Mississippi 

River, 54 
Schools (See also Education), 

Lack of punishment in, 84, 209; 

imitation of Scotch system, 209- 

210; lack of "fagging" in, 210 
Scott, Sir Walter, parts of his 

poems objectionable to American 

women, 81; popularity of, 218- 

219 
Seasickness, Advice concerning, 35 
Sedgwick, Catherine M., Praise of, 

222-223 
"Senecan Chief, The," first boat on 

the Erie Canal, 18 
Sensitiveness, American, The North 

American Review on, 294; 301- 

302 
Servants, Unsatisfactory nature of 

English, in America, 38; indif- 



INDEX 



367 



ference of American, 57; profes- 
sional, 100-101; position in fam- 
ily, 101 ; lack of, on farms, 152 

Shakers, 267-268 

Shakespeare, 219, 233 

Shamrock Society, "Hints to Emi- 
grants," 32 

Ship-building, Advance in, 181 

Ships, Advantages of American, 
181-182 

Shirreff, Patrick, 22; on American 
children, 84; 153; on hedges, 
162; on price of land, 163; on 
Boston schools, 205, 232; crit- 
icises Mrs. Trollope, 292-293 

Silliman, Benjamin, "Tour in Eng- 
land," criticised, 224 

Sing Sing prison, founded on Au- 
burn model, 119 

Slavery ( See also Negro ) , as a 
drawback to settlement in the 
South, 39; as encouragement to 
hospitality, 67; attitude toward, 
in North, 122; abolition of, in 
New England, 122-123; in New 
York, 123; attitude toward, in 
South, 125-128; necessity for, 
126; laws against slave educa- 
tion, 128; laws against cruelty 
to slaves, 128; rights of slaves, 
128, 140; prohibition of impor- 
tation of, 129-130; personal 
personal treatment of, 134-136; 
degraded condition of, 137, 140; 
interstate slave trade, 137-139, 
140; schemes for abolition of, 
145-148; effect on whites of, 141- 
144; effect on economic condi- 
tions, 142-143; effect on morale, 
143-144; 281-282; as disintegrat- 
ing influence, 321-323 



Sleighing parties. Popularity of, 

86-87 
Smith, Sydney, 216 
Social Life, Uniformity of, in 

cities, 105-106; character of, 105 
Society Library, The, 237 
Soil, Differences in, 153; (false 

promise of, 153 
Somerville, William C, "Letters 

from Paris," 224 
South Carolina, Trade of, 190-191; 

schools in, 207 ; observance of 

Sunday in, 249 
South Carolina Railway, The, 18 
Southey, Robert, Review of "Inch- 

iquin's Letters" attributed to, 

275-276, 278-179 
Speculators, Danger of, 36-37 
"Spirit shops," or "grog shops," 

76 ; as cause of pauperism, 109 
Spitting, Prevalence of, 72-74 
"Squatters," along Western river 

banks, 42 
Stagecoach, Description of typical, 

47-48 
Stage horses, Fine quality of, 49 
Steamboat, The, on Eastern waters, 

53-54; universal praise of, 53; 

rules of conduct on, 53-54; on 

Western waters, 54; dangers of 

navigating, 54-55 
St. Paul's, New York City, one of 

the best-known Episcop a 1 

churches, 257 
Strike, in New York City, 1833, 

178-179 
Stuart, James, 21; 28; on advan- 
tages of Illinois region, 42-43; 

on roads, 50; on "The Constitu- 
tion," 54; on drunkenness, 74; 

on negroes, 131; on colonization. 



368 



INDEX 



132-133; on the silk industry, 
174; on Boston schools, 204-205; 
attacks Mrs. Trollope, 293; 344 

Styles, Fondness for French, 90 

Suffrage, Dangers of universal, 325- 
326 

Sugar, Manufacture of, in Louisi- 
ana, 158-159 

Sunday, Passing of observance of, 
249-250 

Sunday Schools, Development of, 
250-251; influence of, 251 

Sutcliffe, Robert, on redemptioners, 
46 ; on children's smoking, 73 ; on 
atheists, 248 

Swedish Lutherans, 266 

Tariff, an important question, 192 ; 
arguments of the English 
against, 193 ; struggle for higher, 
193-194; English tariff on 
American goods, 194 

Tavern, Description of backwoods, 
60 

Temperance campaigns, 76; influ- 
ence of, 77; report of Society, 
109 

Tennessee, Fine climate of, 160-161 

Thanksgiving rarely celebrated, 85 

Theatre, Early attitude toward, 
230-231; in Boston, 231; many 
visited by English travellers, 
231; American behavior at, 
231-233; nature of plays at, 233, 
235; condition of, at this time, 
233-234 

Thwaites, Reuben, G., 297 

Time of year. Best, for emigration, 
33 

"Tipping," Lack of, 57 



Titles, American fondness for, 307- 
308 

Tobacco, Use of, 72-73; theories 
concerning use of, 72-73; culti- 
vation of, in Virginia, 156-157 

Tolls, Turnpike, 52, 338 

Trade, G^eneral discussion of, 181- 
184; with West Indies and 
China, 184; with Great Britain, 
184-186; cheapness of American 
carrying, 185; in New England, 
187-188; in Middle Atlantic 
States, 188-189; in the South, 
189-191; in the West, 191-192 

"Travels of Lewis and Clark," 281, 
342 

Trinity, New York City, one of the 
best-known Episcopal churches, 
257 

Trollope, Anthony, 13, 293 

Trollope, Mrs. Frances, her work 
the best-known of travel books 
on America, 12-13; 15; 24; 73; 
77; visits girls' school, 209; on 
American fiction, 223; 230; on 
manners at the theatre, 232; 
defends Captain Hall, 290; pop- 
ularity of her book, 290-291; 
influence of, 292-293; 302; on 
love of money, 310; on standards 
of morality, 314; 315; 340; 343; 
344 

Trumbull, John, American artist, 
239 

Trumbull, John, "Mac Fingal," 278 

Tuckerman, Henry T., on English 
books of travel, 286-287; 294 

Tudor, Henry, 13; struggle with 
American landlord, 62; visits 
Philadelphia hospital, 112; vis- 
its Auburn prison, 119; on sugar 



INDEX 



369 



growing, 158-159; on Boston 
schools, 205; on number of stu- 
dents in New England colleges 
210; on Yale, 214; meets athe- 
ists, 248 ; on Mrs. Trollope, 293 ; 
on American sensitiveness, 302; 
on national vanity, 303-304 
Turnpikes, 51-52; maintenance of, 
195; 338 

Union, Necessity for the preserva- 
tion of the, 332-333 

Unitarianism, rival of Episcopacy, 
258; divided attitude toward, 
258; in New England, 258-259; 
spread of, 259 ; 266 

United States, The, a unique ex- 
periment in statecraft, 1 ; di- 
vided opinion on future of, 2 

United States Bank, History of 
the, 200-202 

Universalism, Hostile attitude to 
ward, 262; misunderstanding of, 
262; 266 

University of Pennsylvania, Cur- 
riculum of, 210-211; noted for 
medical school, 215 

Unpopularity of the South as a 
place of settlement, 39 

Value of English travel literature, 
344-345 

Van Buren, Martin, quoted, 305- 
306 

Vanity, National, 302-306 

Vigne, Godfrey, 13; on the stage- 
coach, 47; visits Philadelphia 
penitentiary, 117; on the United 
States Bank, 200; on Harvard 
College, 214; sees Cooper, the 
tragedian, 235 ; on uniformity of 



language, 241 ; on American 
pronunciation, 242-243 ; on wrong 
use of words, 243; on Shaker 
meeting, 268 ; on fondness for 
titles, 307; predicts dissolution 
of the United States, 332; 344 

Virginia, Treatment of slaves in, 
137; slave trade in, 138-139; 
worst example of farming econ- 
omy, 156-157; domestic manu- 
factures in, 167; factory in 
Richmond, 176; bad reputation 
in trade with Great Britain, 
189-190; trade of, 190; educa- 
tion in, 206-207; observance ol 
Sunday in, 249 

Voice, The American, 80-81 

Voltaire, 219 

Voting, by ballot. Dangers of, 323 

Wagon, Description of emigrant's, 

36 
Wakefield, Priscilla, 16 n, 341 
Walsh, Robert, 45, 279-282, 284 
Waltzing, Attitude toward, 95 
Wansey, Henry, 48; 165; visits a 
copper mine, 176-177; on Massa- 
chusetts trade, 187; on internal 
revenue, 195; on Yale, 214; 231; 
276 
Washington's Tomb, 20-21 
Wastefulness, American, 311 
Waverley Novels, Popularity of 

the, 218-219 
Webster, Noah, 225 
Welby, Adlard, 92; on price of 
farm land, 163; praised by The 
Quarterly, 284; on lack of gai- 
ety, 319; 344 
Weld, Isaac, 3-4; 50; visits Phila- 
delphia almshouse, 108; at hos- 



370 



INDEX 



pital, 112; visits prison, 115- 
116; on Pennsylvania mills, 173; 
on mines, 176; on the Virginia 
trade, 189-190; describes Will- 
iam and Mary College, 212-213; 
visits theatre, 231; on Sunday 
in Virginia, 249; 271; on Ameri- 
can incivility, 306; 343 

"Western Gazetteer, The," on New 
Orleans, 68; 342 

White Mountains, Visits to the, 
20, 336 

Whitlocke, Mrs., acts on American 
stage, 231 

William and Mary College, de- 
scribed, 212-213 

Wilmington, N. C, as a trading 
port, 190 

Wilson, Alexander, "Ornithology," 
224 

Wirt, William, defends Virginia, 
69; criticism of, 224 

"Wistar parties," 238 

Women, American, Reserve of, 58- 
59, 94-95; importance of, in a 
new country, 88 ; lack of beauty, 
89; early fading of, 89, 90-91; 



gait of, 89; features and figure 
of, 89-90; poor teeth, 90; reasons 
for poor health, 90-91; dress of, 
91-92; education of, 92-94; fond- 
ness for novels, 93; social man- 
ner of, 94-95; modesty of, 95- 
96; freedom of, 96; high posi- 
tion of, 98-99; lack of unwom- 
anly employment, 99; seldom 
seen at theatre, 231 

Woodworth, Samuel, Criticism of, 
224 

Wordsworth, 219 

"Workies," 179; a menace to the 
government, 328 

Wright, Fanny (See D'Arusmont, 
Frances Wright) 

Yale College, 214-215 

Yankee, Character of the, 301, 312- 
313 

Yawning, a trait of American man- 
ners, 78 

"Year in Europe, A," criticised, 
224 

Yellow fever. 111 



VITA 

The author of this book was born at Claverack, New 
York, May 19, 1884. After graduating from the Hudson 
(New York) High School, she entered Mount Holyoke Col- 
lege, from which she received the degree of Bachelor of 
Arts in 1909. Her graduate work was done at Columbia 
University, where she received the degree of Master of Arts 
in 1913. During the year 1916-1917 she was the holder of 
the Mary E. Woolley Graduate Fellowship from Mount 
Holyoke College. 



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